


The Cave~

by madllamamomma



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Backstory, Developing Relationship, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Mild Smut, Romance, Smut, madllamamomma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:54:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28256496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madllamamomma/pseuds/madllamamomma
Summary: [WARNING: 18+ ONLY, NSFW some Smut, profanity, detailed blood/gore & adult themes.](*This story is about my MC Rhemi and takes place the end of the summer, after The Lullaby~ & Pumpkin Bread~, and before Journey back to the South~)Birthdays are supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Yet, Rhemi finds herself unable to enjoy it. To cheer her up, Portia, Julian, Asra, and Muriel take her to the beach where they have some fun in the sun.But something unexpected unfolds there on the shores of Vesuvia.
Relationships: Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana), Asra/Julian Devorak, Muriel (The Arcana)/Original Character(s), Muriel (The Arcana)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 32





	1. The 15th of August~

_**The 15th of August~** _

_**Part 1~** _

The warm August sun is heading down for the long summer day as Rhemi, Asra, and Muriel head back from the market after a rather busy day. It’s odd, Julian told his friends that there was a sale on Rhemi’s favorite teas, but there wasn’t even a tea vendor open today. When she asked around, everyone just shook their heads confused, no one even heard about this alleged sale either. As the three walk back to the shop, a bit disappointed and unsure why Julian sent them all on a wild goose chase, they all looked forward to a peaceful calm night. Rhemi especially couldn’t wait for this day to end, August 15th always filled her with such dread when it came around, but she managed to dodge that phrase she didn’t like hearing.

Rhemi is the first one to the door, and she opens it up, expecting the shop to be empty, two people suddenly spring out of the darkness. Startled, she summons her magic into her hands, ready to attack and Asra and Muriel quickly follow in. “—Happy birthday, Rhemi!!” Portia and Julain cry out, suddenly emerging from behind the counter.

They have colorful party hats and blowing silly kazoos, wooden noisemakers, and throwing paper streamers, holding a rather large cake that says, ‘Happy Birthday Rhemi!’, with white icing. There’s even a banner on the wall of the shelves behind the counter that reads _happy birthday_ behind them.

Rhemi just stares at them blankly, her face turning a bit white. Asra and Muriel looking slightly mortified and a very awkward silence starts to take over. Faust quietly slithers out her Asra’s vest hissing, _“Uh-oh….”_

This was most definitely not the reaction the two were expecting. Realizing that something was obviously wrong, the siblings exchange confused glances before finally Portia speaks up. “Is…. is something wrong?... “ She glances over to her brother and whispers, “..Ilya, you told me it was today, _right?”_

“Yes, yes, yes! I, _ah—_ I was very sure I got the date right! I wrote it on my hand!” He quickly glanced over to the calendar handing off the wall with his left eye, making him a bit more unconfident. “....Isn’t it the ... _errr_ …the 15th of August??”

Rhemi shakes out her stupor and gives her friends a fake grin, “ _Ohhh… Wow…_ you two shouldn’t have. This… this is… really, really, sweet of you.” Her eyes then dart to the floor, looking like she feels a bit ashamed. “You guys really put a lot of thought into this, didn’t you?... _. Ahhhh…._ Thank you!... It was really nice of you two…. to do this…Really… B-...But...”

 _“Buuuuuut…. ah…_.. You don’t like it…. do you, Rhemi-dea—?” Portia swiftly elbows her sibling in the side before he can finish that last part. She get annoyed when he calls her Rhemi-dear for some reason, and would usually pout or throw something at him. But she barely seems to notice, as she keeps looking at the wonderful decorations and the small party the two conducted for her. But she’s not overjoyed, rather, she looks like she could faint, or cry at moment.

She scratches the back of her head, her cheeks a bit flushed. “I…. Really appreciate this… but… _. But….”_ All of a sudden, a huge wave of anxiety washes over her, making her stomach drop, and her intestines feel like it’s in a thousand knots. “P-Please excuse me—I gotta get some air—”

“Hey ...Rem!! RHEMI!!” Muriel exclams, reaching his right hand out for her, but she's just too quick.

“—Rhemi! Wait!!” Asra adds, but doesn’t reach out for her, he doesn't want to force her to be in this situation. 

Rhemi scurries so quickly up the stairs to her room, no one can really catch her. “—I-I’m so sorry, everyone!!!!” She utters sounding half panicked before shutting the door behind her.

_SLAM!!—_

In just an instant, Portia, Julian, Asra and Muriel all find themself down stairs in the middle of the shop staring at one another rather dazed. The Devoraks look completely lost, yet also feel incredibly bad. Was it something they said? Or something they didn’t say?? What ever is the matter?

“I thought she loved Agrippa’s lemon strawberry cake…” Julian mutters under his breath.

Muriel takes a step forward to follow his lover up the stairs, but Asra grabs his arm and tugs him back. “Might be best to just give her a little space, Mur.”

He grumbles a bit, but stays put, knowing that his friend is right. She obviously wants to be alone right now, and wants to respect her boundaries.

“Did we…. Did we do something wrong??” Portia asks, carefully placing the cake on the glass countertop and doffing her silly party hat as she looks up towards the slammed door her friend has hidden behind.

Asra runs his fingers through his fluffy whitish hair and lazily plops his ass down to the velvet maroon colored couch across the glass counter. “No, Portia. You both didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what, _ah…_ exactly, Asra?” Julian cautiously asks, taking off his goofy party hat and placing it on the glass as well.

Muriel carefully descends to take a seat next to Asra pinching the bridge of his nose, resting his elbows on his knees, appearing a bit frustrated with the entire situation. “....Rem…. doesn’t like her birthday….”

“She-She—what??” Julain screeches and his left eye wide.

“What do you mean?” Portia mumbles looking a little sad. “We thought you always made seafood curry for her every year, Asra.”

Asra drops his head, seeing the confusion in their faces. “I do… but after August 15th. Never on the date… She hates this date. Ever since I first met her, she didn’t like to celebrate her birthday.”

“I thought she loved going to birthday parties...” Julian mumbles, scratching his long neck.

But Asra just shakes his head and lets out a long sigh. “That’s the thing. She likes _other_ people’s birthdays, she doesn’t like _hers._ ”

 _“Why??_... What’s wrong with August 15th?” Julian inquires, throwing up both of his hands.

“Honestly… I don’t know why she hates it. When we were teenagers, when I mentioned it, she’d always changed the subject, or stopped talking. Even Athena, her Aunt, wouldn’t talk about it. Only once, she told me, _‘it wasn’t a good day for her’_ and that was the end of it. Then, when Rhemi came back to life, she still didn't want to celebrate it. She says she doesn’t know why, but something about her birthday makes her feel terrible…. Even telling her, _‘happy birthday’_ is like pouring salt into a wound for her...”

Portia and Julian just look at each other, the same sad expression on both of their faces. “Do you…. Do you think something bad happened?”

Asra pushes back his fluffy hair and shrugs. “I dunno…. But that’s the only logical conclusion I made myself. I didn't really know about her life before she came to Vesuvia. The only thing she told me was that she wasn’t born here, but I think her mother was Vesuvian—But that’s it.... She was even reluctant to tell me that much.” 

Muriel blinks a few times and picks up his head to look at his friend. “Wait… She never told you where she came from?”

“Nope…. I just figured after a while that it wasn’t any of my business.” Asra answers and Faust slinks around his shoulders and neck.

“That’s not suspiciously vague and mysterious.” Portia sarcastically murmurs slouching on the counter top looking rather heartbroken for her friend. “Man… I feel bad now. We really had no idea she felt this way.”

Muriel smiles faintly at her, scratching his face a little. “Just give her some time… She can’t resist one of Agrippa’s cakes.”

“Yeah, that's true.” Portia says staring at the wall, clearly lost in thought and biting her lower lip.

Noticing her silly face, Julian lips twitch up into a devious grin, knowing exactly what she is thinking and snickers “ _Hee-hee_ … Speaking of which… Did you, _er,_ ever get the guts to ask them out, yet?” His sister slams her hands onto the glass countertop straightening up her upper body. Eyes widen and her cheeks nearly match her bright red hair. Embarrassment is quickly replaced with anger as she punches the doctor’s deltoid, and he whimpers slowly sinking to the floor, pain clear in his face. _“OOOOUUCH!!_ Oi! That hurt, Pasha—”

“—WHATTHEFUCK??—You said you wouldn’t say anything, you stupid jackass!!!!” She grumbles through her teeth, cupping her hot cheeks. Asra and Muriel try their best to hide their large grins and snickers. “FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT???” She half yells, her voice muffled by her hands.

“You really think you weren’t obviously, Portia??” Asra giggles, raising an eyebrow. “You go to their bakery four or five times a week and _no one_ needs that much bread!”

Julian places his opposite arm back in the glass counter, trying to pull himself back up to his feet as he fumbles for words. “That what I—YES!— _E-Exactly_! I think they know you wanna eat more than their buttercream frosted cup-CAAAAKE!!—” She clobbers him once again, this time on the stomach, he manages to sink all the way down to the floor breathless. “Goddamnit—OWW!!!!”

Portia’s shoulders hike up furiously and she grits her teeth as she tries not to scream at him. “— _EWWWWW!!!!_ SHUT THE HELL UP, ILYA!! You are so discussing!!!” Asra and Muriel can’t help but laugh at the current scene unfolding in front of them.

The rather amusing sibling banter continues to go back and forth like that for a couple of minutes. Muriel finds himself looking towards upstairs, worried about his girlfriend and can’t take much more of it. Finally he stands to his feet and everyone goes still and silent to listen to him intently. “...I’m gonna check on her.” He mumbles, cheeks faintly flushed feeling awkward with all these eyes suddenly on him.

“Alright.” Asra nods, a bit worried himself. Rhemi handled it better than he anticipated, but it still wasn’t that great of a reaction.

As Muriel ascends the staircase, Portia, Julian, and Asra sit there for a moment until Julian strikes up another conversation. “Soooo. You never did answer me, Pasha—*Smack* _OWWW!!!_ QUIT HITTING YOUR OLDER BROTHER!!!” Muriel can hear Asra and he sputters his laughter.

Muriel grins a little as he rolls his eyes and finally gets to the door to the top of the stairs and he tenderly knocks with the knuckle of his pointer finger. “....Rhemi?” He calls out… No answer. There isn’t even stir heard from behind the door. He takes a deep inhale through his nostrils and tries the handle and the door swings open. Cautiously, he enters her room. Not all that surprised that she isn't in there, but the door to the veranda is wide open and he scoffs. “.... How’d I know you’d be there?” He mutters under his breath, ducking his head through and shutting the door behind him. He walks over to the double doors and squeezes his tall self out onto the small veranda. Instinctively he glances over his right shoulder, and there she is, exactly where he thought she’d be. “Hi...” He greets with a calm and caring tone of voice.

She’s on the roof. There’s a low hanging ledge that someone can hoist themself up there. It’s quiet, yet has enough noise from down below to drown out your inner thoughts. She just sits there gazing out into the city, her knees drawn up to her chest, watching the sun go down in the west and the street lights slowly are being lite by worker for the approaching night. “Hey….” She finally mumbles back, looking rather embarrassed. The roof was a place where she could get away without having to run off too far. She even told him once before that when she’s up there, it's like viewing the world from a different perspective and it helps her process her thoughts. “.... I’m an such a fuckin’ idiot.” She sighs feeling ashamed.

“No you're not. It was a… well… for a lack of better word, a _surprise._ They didn't even tell us about it.” He says, resting his weight on his shoulder into the doorframe. 

Rhemi takes a handful of her hair and starts to comb it with her fingers, then twists the ends slightly looking nervous. “I don’t even know why I am like this….I ... I can’t explain what exactly I am feeling….. But it’s…” She pauses and looks out the horizon opening and closing her mouth a few times grasping for words. “... It’s like my stomach hurts… my heart starts to race…I feel like all these eyes are staring at me, my skin feels clammy….. and it just feels so….. I dunno… _melancholic_ …?”

“It’s ok, Rhemi.” Muriel replies calmly, soundly so sweet in his tone. He then swiftly and rather effortlessly pulls himself up to the roof to sit next to her. “.... You don’t have to explain.” He continues as he sits down to the left of her and gets comfortable, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulls her close to him. “....I get it.”

She lets go of her hair and starts to relax, giving no resistance as he cuddles her and she rests her head on his outer peck. “....Portia and Ilya really wanted to have a good day… then I just ran away like a little bitch—Uggghhh…. I must have made them feel so shitty.” She whimpers that last part sounding so guilty.

“...Not your fault Rhemi.” He comforts her, giving her a little squeeze.

She huffs irritatedly at herself, wiping a little tear in her eye away. “.... I wish I didn’t feel like this…. I don’t want to feel like this.”

“I know…. Don’t think anyone does.” Muriel says just above a whisper in the most understanding tone of voice. If anyone knows how it feels to be overwhelmed by a simple word or phrase, it’s him.

Rhemi clutches the top of her lover's hand that holds her stomach, enjoying his comforting touch and feeling a bit better each moment. “...Thanks for coming up here, love.” She says softly, finally peering up at him and cracks a little wry smile.

“You’re welcome.” He whispers back as he leans down, placing a sweet kiss her forehead.

Her heart flutters a bit with affection, but she still feels like she’s drowning in all these negative emotions and she looks back towards the city. “.... Do you think the Devoraks hate me?”

A short snort shoots through his mouth and rests his head on her left shoulder, bringing her into his chest. “No…. They could never hate you, Rem… I mean I wouldn’t care if Julian never showed up ever again.”

Rhemi can feel him as he smiles, sounding little too happy at that idea. “Heeeey!” She makes a startled giggle and boops his nose turning her head to meet his eyes. “Muri!! Yes you would! _Geez,_ why are ya’ so mean to him?” 

He just holds in his chuckles, shaking his shoulders and holds her a little tighter amused but her reactions. “Tell me he doesn’t deserve it.”

First, she raises her pointer finger about to argue, but then thinks about it a second more and she bobs her head side to side and shrugs, knowing that she can’t say anything. Muriel just laughs a little more and places another sweet feather light kiss on her left cheek.

Fifteen or so minutes drag by while Muriel and Rhemi enjoy watching the city as it slowly changes colors from the sun. She starts to feel a lot better, her stomach no longer in knots like it was downstairs. “....That cake was an Agrippa cake wasn’t it?” She poutily asks. He just stays silent, but nods his head and she grumbles and whines a bit. She does love their cakes and pastries and she stews for a couple of moments. A little snicker flows from her mouth as a thought occurs. “...Has Portia asked them out yet?”

Muriel barks a short chuckle half expecting her to ask that. “Dunno. Ilya asked, and she just got mad and punched him.”

Rhemi covers her mouth with both hands quickly stifling a sputtering laugh. “Bet you loved watching that, huh?”

“I did… I really did.” Muriel mumbles fondly nodding his head and smiling.

No longer able to contain herself, Rhemi’s lungs fill up with cute giggles and she lets them out. They prove to be too contagious and Muriel slowly picks up his head away from her shoulder, fully joining in then holds her even closer and rubs his warm face. “ _God_ —I love you.” She says as she takes her left hand and holds his jawline, loving the sound of his low deep rumbling laughter.

His cheek turns slightly pink and he averts his eyes, but still keeps a large grin on his shy face. “I.... I love you too.”

She leans into him and kisses him softly on his lips. He tuck back her long bangs out of her face and kisses back with much intensity. As they part for air, they rest their foreheads together. “...I don’t really wanna come back down…” She admits just above a whisper.

“You don’t have to.” He shrugs, matching her volume. “Not if you don’t want to.”

“...I know… I really don’t feel like being social anymore… but don't want to make them wait for me at the same time.” She mumbles as she breaks away, looking towards what's left of the sun and contemplates her dilemma for a few more minutes while Muriel waits patiently. Finally she taps his arm to let go of her stomach so she can scoot herself off the roof. “Better get going.”

“C-Careful…. please.” He says warily as watches his short girlfriend’s every move as she slides herself off of the ledge of the roof, dropping down to the veranda.

She scoffs cutely and gives him a pointed look as she dust the dirt off her clothes. “You know I’ve made this for years, right?”

“I-... I know that.” He flushes as he effortlessly shimmy’s himself down with a large thud making the pots, pans, and flatware clack and sway in the small kitchenette. “....Still, I worry. Don’t want you to get hurt.” He mutters picking up her chin with his pointer knuckle.

 _“Gahh.._. You’re such a cutie~” She teases grabbing his right forearm with her hands and he grumbles a bit.

As they make their way downstairs, they both notice that it’s particularly quiet. Rhemi looks around, and realizes that the Devoraks have apparently left. The cake is still sitting on the glass counter as Asra uses his magic to clean up the confetti and streamers taking down the _‘Happy Birthday, Rhemi’_ banner.

“Asra… where did they go?” Rhemi asks, half startling her friend.

Asra starts a bit, but he turns back around and has a little smile. “They figured that they should probably go home for the night, give you space.”

 _“Ugggggggggh…”_ Her shoulder sinking down disappointedly as she shuffles over to the velvet couch. “They probably think I’m such a goddamn freak.” She continues to literally groan, dropping herself longways to the furniture and covering her face with her right forearm waiting to just disappear.

Asra snorts lazily, leaning on the arm of the chair, lovingly flicking her forehead and grimaces slightly. “ _Noooooo!_ Stop being so hard on yourself. Give those two some credit, they are both reasonable people—Well… Portia is anyways—Besides, we also told them that you just don’t like your birthday.”

She rubs her head a bit sticking out her bottom lip. “Yeah, but I’m sure they’d like an explanation _why_ —But I don’t know why.” Her hands flail crazily and her brow furrows, then they drop boneless back on the couch and she sighs.

Faust zips down Asra’s arm and cuddles up to Rhemi, hissing comfortingly. _“Friendddddd.”_ She adorably hisses closing her little eyes.

Rhemi pets her head with her pointer finger and cracks a small grin, “Hey, Faust.”, but it falls as another thought comes to him. Lost in thought, she stares at the wooden ceiling above, so frustrated with herself. “... I…. I just feel… really bad—like something _important_ was taken from me....”

Asra and Muriel silently glance at one another a little saddened after she says that. It must be infuriating to be blind to memories yet bare the raw emotions of them. How exactly can you process them? How can you come to terms with it if you don’t know what’s triggering them? Why does it affect her so much?

Asra breaks the silence and rests his head on his propped up arm. “Well... I guess the shop is close for the night. Why don’t two get out of here?”

“But there is stuff to clean up.” Rhemi holds onto Faust as she sits her upper body forward.

 _“Psssh!_ Don’t worry about that, you may not like today, but I have to spoil you a little.” He teases tilting his head.

Her eyes then wander over to her hermit’s and she ponders about what she would like if her night was now free. “.....I’d like to go to the hut for a while… cuddle with Inanna… have some tea… maybe read a trashy book… That’s how I’d like to end tonight.”

Muriel's face softens and he snorts through his nose as he walks over to the couch and extends his hand to pull her to her feet. “... Sounds nice, we can do that.”

\-----

A few short moments later, Muriel and Rhemi wave Asra and Faust goodnight and they head out before they lose the last bit of sun as they head towards the forest. Rhemi, who is usually chatty, is quiet all the way through the city. Her silence reminds him a lot of the dragon’s breath potion insisted earlier this year in spring; when he peers down at her, she's just lost in her own thoughts. He opens his mouth to say something, but suddenly a black bundle of fur tackles her from behind jarring her out of her head. A huge wet wolf tongue lapping at her face makes her cringe and smile at the same time and she can’t help but let out a startled laugh. “Hi, Nana. Good to see you too, girl!”

 _“NANA!”_ Muriel snaps at the wolf, but she doesn’t pay him any heed and continues to slobber Rhemi with affectionate kisses, pressing her down to ground with her heavy paws.

He moves his hands to pull the animal away from her, but she waves her hand ensuring that it was completely fine. “Oh, she's alright, Mur! Let her have her fun. I don’t mind, do I, Inanna??” The wolf let out a happy low woof and Rhemi scratched her furry neck. “No I don’t~”

Back safely inside the hut, Muriel and Rhemi make a nice little dinner together and they eat at the table. It was still quiet, but at least now it felt more like a comfortable silence. With full bellies, Muriel takes off his cloak, shoes, shirt, and belts and Rhemi changes into her nightshirt and they cuddle close on the bed as they read their books, backs pressed against the headboard.

Rhemi loves books. Muriel does too, but the subjects that she reads always baffled him. She was smart, had tons of academic books and whatnot. But then she also had a taste for a particular series of trashy romance novels. They technically had a mystery plot, but were jam packed with lewd smut, overly dramatic dialogue, sappy scenes, and mushy love crap that was an immediate eye roll for most people. Yet she loved them unironically and owned every new volume as they came out. Muriel insisted that he detested them, refusing to give them a chance even when Rhemi begged him to. But then she noticed that each book in the series would go ‘mysteriously’ missing for a week or two after she was done reading it. Then they would ‘mysteriously’ end up back on her shelf at the shop after she’d intentionally left it at the hut and would find remnants of a pressed flower. The same kind of flower Muriel always used as a bookmark…. _Hmmmm how strange._ Rhemi even caught Muriel eyeing her new book tonight trying to read the title, but she just knowingly stays quiet and smiles to herself, pretending not to notice.

The night was flowing on in the forest outside and was riddled with crickets and owls and other night creatures. Rhemi comes to a particular chapter that she can’t get past the first few pages. It’s a flashback to the antagonist’s childhood; explaining how they were actually once in love with the main character, and why they are hatefully jealous of their love interest.

The thought of being a child is so strange to her. All she remembers is being an adult. It’s odd not knowing how your body changed, not remembering the key decisions and mistakes you made. Blind to the process of growing up and developing into the person you are now. No real reasoning, no real understanding to why she is the way she is. _Why am I the way I am?... Why did I deserve to even come back in the first place?._.. The cold feeling of guilt tugs at her heart again as she thinks about all the people who deserved coming back more than she did. Overwhelmed with the thoughts that plague her mind, she places her book down on the mattress with a long exhale. “...Love?” She calls out to her hermit and he picks his head from his book to listen. “.... Do you miss being a kid?”

With a bleak expression, Muriel shrugs and rubs the back of his head. “....No…. Not really… Asra and I lived around the wharf for a few years… it was rough…. I mean I’m glad I met him… and he stuck around for some reason. It was better than the coliseum... But still, they weren’t the best of times…. Why?”

“... I don’t know… Asra makes it sound like we had pretty good teenage years. I mean… My mother died when I was younger, but I seemed like I should have been happy for the most part. But why do I get the feeling like I wasn’t?”

He takes a large inhale, shutting his book and putting it down as well, staring at her looking worried.

“I'm sorry…” Rhemi, feeling bad that she interrupted their peaceful reading, she picks up his book and hands it back to him. “Forget I said anything. I think I’m just a little in my head too much, that's all.”

Muriel gives her a pointed look and pushes his book back to the bed and scoots himself to face her better. “...What else is bothering you?... I wanna know.”

Her eyes divert back to the blanket underneath and she twirls a small piece of her hair. “I-.... It’s just..... No matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t remember my childhood. Ever since Julian found my will, I can’t help but wonder if I am ever going to get any other memories back. I never really cared before, but now…It just feels like I am missing a large chunk of myself. And I don’t want to feel like that. I liked my false sense of confidence.”

“....Sorry.” He murmurs softly, he strokes her left cheek with his thumb. “I know you get frustrated sometimes.”

She can feel as her face heats up staring at his sexy muscly chest. “Don’t be. It is what it is. You can’t help it.”

“Neither can you.”

“I guess not...” Rhemi huffs then crawls over to him. He opens his legs and she sets herself in between his thighs and holds his face with her hands, feeling the stubble running around his jaw. “...Did we even know each other before I died?”

Leaning into her touch, he answers, but sounds like he doesn’t want to. “... Not really. I mean… I guess we met a handful of times. But not that I care to talk about them...”

 _“Why?”_ She bats her eyelashes and tilts her head. “Was I different than I am now?” He just stares at her blankly, looking as if he wasn’t going to answer. Then she starts to massage his right hand and he softens his gaze.

Shame gleams in his eyes, and he tries to think of what to say. “You were…. How do I say this?... _ahhhh.._.”

Realizing what he’s avoided, she pauses massaging his arm and squints her eyes with a grin. “...You _didn’t_ like me... did you?”

“I--.... I didn’t say that…” He quickly defends, turning his face over to the hut door, refusing to look at her.

She just moves her head towards his gaze and he shrinks into his shoulders. “But you didn’t… did you?”

A reluctant sign pushes out from his lungs and he cock his head back. “… I don’t know…. You were really, _uhh_ … I- I was….” He shrugs and pushes his hair out of his face, trying to carefully select his words, but seems to try to give up. “.... We just didn’t get along.”

“How so?” She asks with her head tilted cutely.

He groans a little, not wanting to continue this conversation, but doesn’t want to disappoint her either. “....Well… I was mean to you, and you were mean to me. That’s how we interacted with each other.”

Shame washes over her after he said that and she pulls away cupping her face looking panicked. “I was mean to you?—Did I hurt you, Mur?”

 _“Huh?_ N—No, Rem!” His large hands gently hold her wrist and pull her hands away from her face and he shakes his head. “—Not like that. It wasn’t a big deal, really.” She relaxes placing her hands on his chest and inches closer to him. Her big eyes are cutely gazing into his eyes with a hint of longing. His chest and neck starts to feel hot and suddenly feels a bit aroused seeing her shirt drop off her shoulder and he averts his eyes to the fireplace. “W-We…. Just said crappy things to each other. That's all. You were… a lot like me in a way now that I think about it….. Didn’t trust people... a little snarky…. _kinda acted like a know-it-all._ ” He mumbles that last part.

The tip of her nose touches his and it sends a shiver down his spine. “Was I… a jerk?” She asks.

His eyes darted down her shirt for a moment to her breast making it difficult to focus on his train of thought. He clears his throat and looks back over to the hut door again. “... You weren’t a bad person, you just weren’t as kind ...like… you...are...n- now… Fuck—I’mnothelpingmyself… I’m still _really_ not good at this crap...” He grumbles, irritated at himself. “I’m sorry.” He chuckles a little.

Rhemi smiles at her lover’s awkwardness and giggles then places a kiss on his scared cheek and he sighs happily. “You did just fine. Thanks for telling me.” When she pulls away, she takes her right pointer finger and twirls a small piece of his dark hair. “...I know I’m not like how I used to be. I just don’t know _why_ I’m not _…._ Asra won’t tell me, but I know he misses me old me…” She briefly pauses then licks her bottom lip thoughtfully. “Am I completely different than I used to be?”

“...Not... _completely_ different.” He mumbles sheepishly, trying not to stare at her bottom lip, pushing out the thoughts of wanting to be inside of her. “...You’ve always been really intelligent… Asra told me how great you were with magic… You still are... But now, you seem… _brighter_ … somehow?—shit, I dunno.” His flushes a deeper red and his face twists. “...It’s hard for me to explain…”

“I appreciate you trying anyways. Really.” She murmurs, her eyes traveling down his body and she starts to rub his bare chest. “And you’re really cute when you all flustered.”

He huffs grouchily. “Sorry… I wish I was better at explaining things.”

She shakes her head. “I understood what you meant. And I’m just happy you tried. I always want to know what you’re thinking…. but I wish we got along better when we were kids.”

“Yeah…me too…” Feeling his member growing larger by each passing minute and the more she touches him, he can’t seem to stop himself before he asks, _“Ahhhh…_ Can I tell you something else?...” Her eyes look back into his green eyes and she nods. “... I think…. I wanna kiss you right now…”

Her cheeks turn pink as she smiles as she leans into him with parted lips and he melts into her touch. He kisses her back sweetly running his fingers through her long hair. Each kiss is followed by another, growing more passionate but the minute. His right hand starts to feel the shape of her body, she straddles his legs. Holding her tightly, he moves over and drops his legs to the edge of the bed so his legs get out of the way. They both start to sway their hips feeling hotter by the moment.

One thing leads to another and Rhemi finds herself lewdly moaning as Muriel licks and sucks her hard nipples and her back pressed against the wall, both their clothes litter the floor. She can feel his large hard member as it stretches her walls, and makes her entrance drench. Breathing becomes shallow, their bodies become hot, sweat drips, bodies tingle, hips thrust faster by the second as they make passionate love to one another. All of their troubles in the world melts away for these brief euphoric moments as they please one another, feeling each other get closer and closer to climaxing. Suddenly, Muriel’s hips twitch and his dick feels even harder, groaning with pleasure as he fills his lover’s pussy with cum. Rhemi clutches her legs around his waist, her arms hugging his strong neck. She didn’t really get there, but she doesn’t really care, it still feels good to be loved by him.

Breathless, Muriel pulls her back away from the wall, hugging the small of Rhemi’s back tightly. Slowly, he pulls himself out. She shutters blissfully and he peppers her neck with kisses as carries her back to the bed. He lays on his back while she’s resting on his muscly chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat. 

“...Sorry..” He mutters, looking a bit disappointed with himself.

“For what, love?” She says exhausted and airily.

“I—… You-... I didn’t….” He makes a vague gesture to her entire body. “......ya know…”

“Didn’t make me cum?” She smiles, adoring the fact that he’s too embarrassed to say certain words still. He grumbles under his breath, blanching a little. “It’s ok, love. I don’t have to cum every time. I’m weird and sometimes I just can’t.” She shrugs, but still has a satisfied expression on her face.

“... We… _ah…_. wecangoagainifyouwant…” He quickly mumbles, sweetly stroking his thumb on her cheek.

She stifles a yawn rolling off his troso and snuggles his side. “I’m happy~ Are you?” He cracks a little smile, nods, and kisses the top of her head, and she presses her lips to his peck.

They both lay there peacefully feeling their eyes getting heavier and heavier and all that can be heard is the small crackling of the fireplace. “....Thank you.” She says breaking the silence before she falls asleep.

“For what?” He quietly whispers back, waking him up a bit.

He feels her lips as she smiles and she lets out a cute little giggle. “..... Making everything better….”

Muriel’s arms wrap around Rhemi and he hugs her tightly, never wanting to let her out of his arms. He watches the wall of the hut grow darker and darker as the fire continues to dwindle. There’s a question that he’s been wanting to ask for a while, perhaps how would be a good time. “..... Rhemi?…. I want... I think.... I want... to spend the rest of my life with—” Suddenly, he hears a faint snore. She’s fast asleep and hasn’t heard a word. Unable to contain himself he softly snorts at her. Yep that seems to be luck, he thinks to himself. Just when we muster up enough courage, she falls asleep on him. He covers them both with the blanket and Inanna jumps at the foot of the bed. The dim fire slowly goes out as the three of them drift off to sleep.

————

After a very good night to a stressful day, the two head back to the shop. As Rhemi enters the door, she notices that people are already inside, but not customers. It’s Asra, Julian, and Portia, apparently waiting for her.

“Morning, you two lovebirds~” Asra teases with a little smirk.

Rhemi watches as her friends stand to their feet with such somber and apologetic expressions on their faces. “Hey, Rhemi.” Portia finally says with an empathetic smile.

“Portia… Julian.” Rhemi quickly grabs each one of their hands looking so remorseful and sheepishly gazes to the ground. “... I’m so sorry about my behavior yesterday…. I am really grateful for what you both were trying to do for me, and I was so inconsiderate. I shouldn’t have ran off like that—”

“W-What??” Portia picks up Rhemi’s hand to her eye level and viciously shakes her head. “—No, no, no! Rhemi, you shouldn’t be apologizing!! We are the ones that should have asked.”

Rhemi just flutters her eyes in disbelief. _“Huh??—_ Are you kidding? No, you shouldn’t have to do that. Normally people like their birthdays. Normal people are grateful when people do thoughtful things for them. I’m just the freak who hates it… and for no logical reason either, apparently.”

Julian sighs and places his free hand on Rhemi’s right shoulder and she turns her head towards him. “Listen, Rem. If you don’t like it, as your friends, we should understand that and respect your boundaries. If you don’t want to celebrate your birthday, you have that right.”

“But… I don’t even know why I don’t like it. It shouldn’t affect me like it does… I want to be able to have fun and get over theses stupid feelings.”

Portia then grabs her friend’s face and stares into her eyes. “Rhemi. It doesn’t matter _why_ you don’t like it, what matters is that it makes you feel bad, and we never want to hurt you.”

Tears swelling in her eyes, as Portia releases her face. The apprentice then throws her arms around the two, hugging them tightly, feeling so relieved that they understand and aren’t the least bit upset with her. “Thank you for being so understanding. I love you guys so much.”

 _“Awwwwww,_ we love you too, Rem.”

“You sure you're not mad at me??”

“But of course not!!” Julain mutters, pulling away with a smile, tilting her chin. “Hey now!!! Put those away!” He starts to blubber as he sees her eyes and tears up himself making Rhemi chuckles as she wipes them away before they fall down.

Asra comes over and Rhemi dashes forward and they both embrace one another with a quick friendly squeeze. “So while you and Muri were upstairs, the three of us started to talk…”

“Did you now?” She giggles, trying to keep her tears in. 

“We know you don’t like your birthday… but it isn’t your birthday anymore, sooooo why don’t we have a beach day today??”

Faust sticks out her head and hisses with excitement, _“WATER!!”_

Rhemi stiffens, taken a little by surprise and she pulls away to look at him. “A… beach day??”

##  _**To be continued…** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being patient with this one! I meant for the first part to come out around last week, but that didn’t happen (obviously). Anyway I hope everyone is having a great holiday time!
> 
> Part two will hopefully be out soon! 
> 
> Thanks for reading my hot trash! 


	2. Swimsuits & Sandwiches~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This chapter is actually SWF, other than profanity and adult themes. Still, no trash pandas under 18. Thanks.]

_**Part 2~  
** _

_**Swimsuits and Sandwiches~** _

Still a bit taken by surprise, Rhemi tilts her head thinking about what Asra just asked her. _A..... beach day?_ She thought. _That’s a little random. The last time I went to the beach was almost a year after I woke up._ The sounds of the ocean waves crashing to the shore and the smells of salty air come to her mind. A faint smile twitches up in the corners of her mouth as she continues to ponder on the thought of being in the warm sun. 

“.... The beach?...” Muriel mutters warily, sounding to not be the biggest fan of that idea and he sneers a little. “Why there???”

Asra takes a step back, letting go of Rhemi, exchanging it for Julian’s hand and leans affectionately into his arm making him flounder as he lazily closes his eyes to explain. “Well, Rhemi’s Aunt Athena used to take her every year on this date.”

Rhemi glances between all her friend’s faces then back to Asra’s, tilting her head cluelessly and raising an eyebrow. “She…. _We_ did??” Thoughtfully she glances to the wooden floor boards with her pointer finger resting on her bottom lip. She still can’t really recall any of those things.

Asra stifles a chuckle at her adorable puzzled expression. “Yeah. It was like a little tradition you both had. Athena said you liked to look for ingredients for potions, powders, things like that. She used to make a day of it, played games, packed a lunch, sometimes you even went swimming.”

“...Did you go too?”

A shrug rolls smoothly off his shoulders. “A couple of times, yeah. Especially when we were younger. It was a lot of fun.”

 _“Hmmmmmm.”_ Rhemi folds her arms, and taps her chin with her finger looking towards the shelves eyeing the large conch shell that lived there that she always admired. It was huge, about half the size of Muriel’s hand. Visualizing the crispy blue-ish green water, the smell of the salty ocean breeze, and the wonderful feeling of the hot sun beating down on her skin makes her smile even wider. “Ya know? A beach day does sound pretty nice actually. I’m sure the water would be nice, too.”

“Then what are we waiting for?? I have a good suit that I've been dying to use back at the clinic!” Julian says with a cheer tone walking towards the door.

 _A swimsuit….Oh no._ “Ooooh wait..... I don’t think I have anything to wear anymore…”

Suddenly Julian stops dead in his tracks, spins around dramatically, his one eye lights up with pure excitement, and Rhemi starts to slightly grimace, realizing what she just said out loud. _“OOOOO!_ We are gonna go shhhhhhoooooopppppppiiiiinnnnnngggggggggggg!!!!” He sings whimsically wiggling his hands and fingers.

“Oh _noooooooooo…_.” Rhemi huffs unenthusiastically. She despise clothes shopping. That’s why she wore such baggy clothes (other than her tight pants and under shirt) and fastened them all together with a corset belt.

The silly Doctor quickly whisks Rhemi away out the door, Portia tailing behind with a large goofy smile. “ _Oooo! Ooo!! OOOO!!!!_ I’m coming too!! I’m coming too!! Wait for meee! I know the _perfect_ place to find one!”

Trapped between the two, Rhemi had nowhere to go but with them. She groans, helplessly rolling her eyes knowing that there is no real way out of it, and when you think about it, shopping is a lot more tolerable with good company. “Just…. Just nothing too revealing, please!!” She murmurs. 

“YAAAYYYY!” The Devoraks cheer together merrily, leaving Muriel and Asra alone in the shop with the door wide open.

Asra snickers a bit and shouts, “Take it easy on her, you two!” And they wave without looking behind them, still dropping their friend down the street. The magician just shakes his head and shuts the door and waves his friend along. Muriel just scowls grumbling into his fur cloak, and Asra just smile at him. “Come on. I can probably whip something up for you.”

“Thanks….” Muriel unenthusiastically grumbles. He feels a bit uncomfortable with going back to the shores. The last time he was there wasn’t the best of memories, but it’s for Rhemi’s sake so he’ll deal with it. She did seem happy to be going, and that's really all that matters to him. 

\--------

While Portia and Julian go shopping with Rhemi for the perfect swimsuit for her, Asra swiftly makes his friend something he could wear as well. He makes him a long brown wrap-around cloth that stops around his knees. Knowing that he would be uncomfortable showing that much skin, (well more than he already is) Asra also made him a thin olive colored cloak to put him at ease. Muriel tries on the outfit and Asra places his hand on his hips proudly. “Whatcha think?”

 _“Tall friend handsome!”_ Faust hisses cutely.

Muriel looks all around and looks in the long mirror and nods slowly in approval with a faint blush. “It’s, ah... a-acceptable… I guess… T-Thanks, Asra.”

The magician laughs a little then goes in a flash he changes into a white with gold trim short shorts. As he comes out of his room, he dons a cover for now, a cute little lavender flowy dress.

Now mid morning, Asra and Muriel start to pack up a picnic basket and start to fill it with small plates, a couple of forks, a few napkins, a dozen or so small sandwiches, three loaves of bread, some cheese, a small jar of olive oil and of course Agrippa’s cake so they can all enjoy it at the beach. Asra then notices Muriel is just staring at the picnic basket, his mind miles away. By the looks of it, not somewhere pleasant.

“...Muriel?” Asra whispers, making his friend snap back to reality. “You ok?”

“Oh… Sorry.” He mumbles shaking himself out of his thoughts and returns back to his task of making sandwiches.

Asra flutters his eyes softly. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m fine...”

Asra looks at the picnic basket pondering on if for a minute. It’s nothing particularly special, just a large wicker picnic basket. They have seen hundreds of them before.... in fact... Finally it dawns on him exactly what is weighing so heavily on the hermit’s mind. Asra exhales sharply through his nose. “...Thinking about what happened the last time we were there together?”

His tall friend stiffens for a moment, sticking out his bottom lip, and his face turns a little pink. “...No..” He fibs.

Asra stifles a chuckle and a small reassuring smile sprouts across his lips. “The beach is actually a lot more fun when you aren’t forced to sleep there.”

Muriel’s shoulder’s relax a bit, knowing that his friend can read right through his lie. He scratches his left ear a little, feeling a tad bit embarrassed. “... A lot of stuff is actually fun now…. with the right people I guess.”

Rather touched with his statement, Asra places his hand over his chest. _“Awwwww,_ Muriel! You’ve grown so much!—”

“—S-shut up.” Muriel grumpily moans going back to the sandwiches, turning away to hide his smile. “...Why do you have to make things weird?”

Asra laughs and starts back on wrapping up the sandwiches in napkins. “No, really! I mean it. You and Rhemi both have grown so much. The two have just brought out the best in each other. And... And I never want to see you two apart. You belong together.”

“I know…. I don’t know where I’d be if it weren't for her. Probably still wanting to be alone in the forest…. Still wanting everyone to forget that I even existed.” He pauses again, but this time his eyes are glowing with warmth and love as he think about Rhemi’s pretty face. “I… I want to be with her forever…” Muriel flushes a little harder and sheepishly looks at the half made sandwich in his hand. “Asra.... I…. _ahh…_. I’ve been meaning to ask you…..”

“‘Bout what?”

Muriel's large strong hands start to slightly tremble and he swallows hard. “...What… if….I… I dunno….” Crimson red now engulfs the top of his head down to his chest and a little bit of sweat beading at his brow placing the half made sandwich to the counter top. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, makes vague gestures with his hands then somehow beams even more red. Frustrated, he turns his entire body away to pretend to fetch some more cucumbers, despite the fact there are still three whole ones on the counter.

With a large sigh, Asra places his hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “You can tell me anything, Muriel. I’m your friend and I will never judge you for it.”

Taking a large terrified inhale, Muriel turns himself back to face him and twiddles his thumbs. “..... How would you feel… If…. I asked Rhemi… to… to—”

Slowly the white haired magician starts to realize that he’s trying to ask, and his eyes start to get wider and his lips stretch up into a large toothy smile, and Muriel’s words die in his throat. “Murieeeellllll~ Do you want to _pop the question?”_

“N-No…….” He scoffs. But then his face softens and he quickly grumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. _“...Alrightmaybealittlebit.”_

 _“AAHHHHHHHH!_ OHMYGOODNESS—MURIEL!!!!!!” Asra squeals, throwing his arms around Muriel’s waist making him just groan and flush even more. “Wait—Wait-wait!!! A-Are you asking for _my_ blessing?!”

Muriel throws up his hand and shrugs awkwardly and shuts his eyes, trying not to stammer. “I—I dunno!.. I don’t know h-how to do any of—” He vaguely gestures to all around him and to Asra making him smile even wider. “I—I n-never thought…. I’d be in this p-p-position!”

“Of course you have my blessing, Muriel!! No one in the world is more deserving of her then you!!!” Muriel makes a strange shocked mumble, his hands hover over Asra’s shoulders. Slowly they come to rest on his back accepting his affection. “HA! Now I can’t stop thinking about how beautiful your babies are going to be~”

 _“HUH????”_ Muriel suddenly covers his face with his hands, but smiles secretly liking the idea of it. “—Wait a minute!—Sl-slow down a bit! I haven't even asked yet! She might tell me no…. I mean… We’ve only known each other for little over a year!... She might think it’s weird. _Say ‘no’_.” His smile falls, it’s clear that he’s terrified of what she might say or even think about him. 

“But you know she’s the one—I can see how you look at her! And I’m pretty sure she feels the same about you. I have known Rhemi for years. I have seen her with a couple of different guys before she came back. She has _never_ looked at any of them the way she looks at you! Rhemi loves you, Muriel. With every fiber of her being--”

Muriel suddenly lifts Asra up in a huge bear hug that takes him by surprise, but loves at the same time and he squeezes his large barreling chest. A few seconds later, Muriel sets him down, realizing himself and clears his throat. “.... D….Don’t we have some sandwiches to make?” Asra holds his stomach and laughs at the hermit’s sheepish face. He then takes pity on the man and pats him on the arm. “Thanks…” He whispers with a small grin, feeling so relieved that his friend approves. Asra has been there for him so long, even though he may never admit it, their opinion is very important to him. 

The two finally go back to their rhythm making sandwiches and wrapping them up, and there is a comfortable silence for a while. But then Asra snickers a little without looking at Muriel. “So…. when are you gonna ask her?” He whispers loudly.

“A-ASRA!!” Muriel scowls.

Suddenly the door flies open and in walks Rhemi, Portia, and Julian all carrying a canvas tote of some kind. “—I really wish you’d stop saying that, Portia!” Rhemi says opening the door to the shop with her cheeks hot and pink. Apparently the three of them are continuing on their conversation.

“What~?? You should be proud to have such nice big ones!—I was just a bit shocked because you always hide them with these loose shirts of yours!” Portia teases and Rhemi gets even more red.

 _“Ugggggghhhh!!!!_ SHUSH!!!” She gripes then covers her mouth with the back of her hand. “I know they're big!!!” She loudly whispers.

Julian just is holding in his laughter, snickering all the way back from the market and Rhemi holds in the urge to punch him. Muriel and Asra stick their heads out the door frame holding the picnic basket eyes wide and confused. “...Do we wanna know?” Asra chuckles while Julian trots over. 

“—NO!” Rhemi quickly snaps with her bottom lip out freezing in place. The magician’s eyes light up as his partner hands him a tiny straw sun hat for Faust and she slithers around his neck giving him a loving squeeze, and he only flinches a little.

“Yeah, you‘ll just see.” Julian loudly whispers, gently peeling Faust off his neck with a large grin while heading to Asra’s room to get changed.

Embarrassed, Rhemi covers her face with her hands, her words muffled by her fingers, “HolyfuckIhateyoubothrightnow.”

Muriel ducks out of the kitchen and trundles over to his lover. As soon as she notices his presence, she drops her hands and she gives him a warm hug and he returns it. “Find something?” Muriel asks as she pulls away to look in his mossy emerald eyes.

“ _Ahhhh…_ I guess I did.” Rhemi mumbles with her hands still around his waist. “Not... _uhh.._ Exactly what I was expecting to find… buuuuuut—” She finally notices his outfit and glances back down changing the subject. “Well you look cute!! Asra, did you make this for him? I love the color!” Asra nods proudly and Muriel scratches the back of his neck shyly.

Giddily, Portia skips over, tugging Rhemi’s shoulder towards the stairs. “Hey, we’re burning daylight! Let’s get changed!” She says so giggly like a young school girl.

Rhemi whips her head towards her direction. “Oh—Okay!” Using Muriel’s forearm as leverage, she jumps up and steals a quick peck on his cheek making him flush ridiculously, then she zips up the stairs to get changed with Portia as he tries to hide a love drunk expression. “Be back in a minute!” She says with a wink. 

Muriel’s attention then goes to Julian as he dramatically bursts out of Asra’s room with a puffy long sleeved, but lite, burgundy embroidered shirt with a deep cut V and a black pair of very short trunks. “Ta-da~” He sings trying to embody a fabulous pose. Muriel stares at him blankly while Asra sputters into laughter at the doctor's goofiness. Finally, Muriel turns grumbling loudly and rolling his eyes, heading back to the kitchen to finish the last of the sandwiches.

Portia is the first to come down stairs, dressed in a large sun hat and an off-the-shoulder scarlet tankini. “Come on, Rem!” She excitedly calls to her as she brushes out the wrinkles in her short orange cover-up around her waist.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Hang on!” Rhemi comes hopping down trying to get her dark blue slip on shoes on her feet. Asra and Muriel feel slightly disappointed as they see her coming down in an ombré green wrap tied around her neck that covers all the way down to her knees, not yet getting a chance to catch a glimpse at her new swimsuit that the Devoraks were raving about. She quickly pulls her hair up into a bun and cutely says, “Ready!” It’s good to see her looking happy again. 

Muriel silently grabs the picnic basket and pulls his hood over his head. Asra, fetches a large blanket and places in a large canvas tote. Portia takes a beach ball and Julian has an umbrella. Rhemi also is carrying another umbrella, along with her trusty crossbody bag filled with glass jars with tops on them so she can collect items that they need. This was the main point of this trip after all.

As the group of friends head out of the shop, Rhemi closes the door tight and swiftly places the protection spell, securing it safely. Key in hand, she spins around as she drops it into her bag, and finds herself starting at them all.

Just the other day, she felt such dread like she had an empty void tugging away at her chest. Fixated and upset that she didn’t remember why she hates August 15th so much and what exactly she lost that day. But today, all of the anxiety, the emptiness, and the nausea all but disappeared as if it never existed in the first place. She might not remember her childhood, but she does remember what it feels to be terribly lonely. Yet watching her friends joke and laugh and carry on amongst themselves as they wait for her, this was something she always wanted. At one point she even envied what she has now. But now this is all her’s. Surrounded by love, understanding, and never ending kindness. People who love her. The real her. She can’t help her as she smiles stupidly, thinking to herself, _“What did I deserve to have so many wonderful people who care about in my life?”_

Muriel turns around and his eyes meet with her’s. Seeing the corny grin on her face, he knows exactly what she’s thinking and he smiles back. _How can you not smile back at a ray of sunshine?_ Nodding his head, gesturing for her to hurry over, she hops merrily off the step and over to her friends, excited for the day they're going to have together. She loops her arm around Muriel’s left bicep and he gives her a gentle little squeeze. “Let’s go everyone!!” Rhemi happily shouts, tugging Muriel ahead of the pack, nearly sprinting, pointing towards the shores of Vesuvia like she’s going into battle.

_“Today is going to be a good day… What happened in the past doesn’t matter… All that does matter is that I’m here now, in this moment. Loving every minute of it.”_

##  _**To be continued…**_ ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. But holidays, am I right?? Anyways, I'm posting this at 12/31 @ 11:33pm.   
> Lets hope that 2021 is a better year that was this dumpster fire. Thank you all for being the lovely trash pandas that you are and making this hell of a year bearable. I really don’t know what i would have done without The Arcana, this fandom and all of you guys you read my hot trash. I love you all, have a great night, and as always,
> 
> Thanks for reading my hot garbage. <3


	3. Seashells & Picnic Baskets~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhemi (the apprentice), Muriel, Asra, Faust, Julian, and Portia make it to the beach where they have lots of fun.... Until something catches Rhemi's eye when she's hunting for seashells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING: Some topics below are adult in nature and is NSFW including, heavy details of blood/gore, profanity, hint of smut at ending. Only trash pandas 18+ here please. Thank you.]

_**Part 3~** _

It’s just about noon as Rhemi, Muriel, Portia, Asra, and Julian get to the beach. Asra leads them all to a good spot that he liked the most, the path is old and doesn’t look to be used in quite some time, yet he knows the way like the back of this hand. He said he hasn’t been here in years, according to him not many people knew about this spot. It’s nice and quiet, not many rocks or anything in the water. There is however a rather rocky area up around a nearby short cliff, towards the left that separates the other side of the beach and the closer to the wharf. The cliff side was home to shallow tide pools surrounded by dark stoney rocks. Something about that area keeps catching Rhemi’s eye towards the cliff side. It wasn’t particularly pretty, it looked a tad spooky, like an entrance to an old dragon’s lair. Still, she stops in her tracks to stare at it blankly. Clutching to the second umbrella searching aimlessly in her mind to what makes her so drawn to it. It feels like she’s seen it before… Maybe long ago? Asra did mention that she and her family came to the beach at least every year. 

“... Rem?” Muriel’s deep thunderous voice snaps Rhemi back to reality. She shakes her head and looks back up to him. “You ok?” He asks with a concerned tone in his voice.

Rhemi just smiles and starts to sprint towards him, “Yeah, yeah! I’m fine!—Sorry. I just thought I saw something familiar, that’s all.” She explains with a silly smile moving her feet once again, catching up with the rest of the group. Muriel continues to look at her with suspicion and wonders whether or not to ask what she meant. However, she doesn’t seem like it was important right now. She doesn’t look distressed nor is she lying, so he ultimately decides to let it go and follows behind her, trying his best not to stare at her cute ass as her hips sway back and forth with each step.

The weather is just perfect. Beautiful clear blue skies, white powdery sand, the tide in between high and low, and no one around but the five of them (well… six if you included Faust). The group quickly made a nice spot to rest. Two large umbrellas staked into the ground and a large old blanket underneath them.

Portia and Julian set out and test the waters while Asra takes off his cover-up dress, stretching his arms soaking up the sun. Muriel continues to make up the shaded area so it’s comfortable for everyone, adjusting the umbrellas just right so the shade was perfect. Rhemi takes in a deep inhale of the salty sea air and enjoys the gorgeous view for a moment, listening to the seabirds and water crashing on the shore. The sun always felt so against her skin. This was such a great idea, she thinks to herself. It’s the perfect day for this.

After about a half a minute, she pulls out a small list of needed items along with a couple of glass jars out of her bag. She carefully lowers the bag to the ground, spins back around to Asra and Faust with a firm loud clap, getting right down to business. “ _Okay!!_ Sooo, we need a few things to collect to make today worthwhile!” Asra can believe it, she’s working. Today is supposed to be a nice day off to counter the dread she felt the day before. But here she is, freakin’ working away. A bit irritated, his shoulders slump down and he scoffs a little, hands on his hip, his eyes burning a hole through her face. But she isn’t paying any attention as she continues to go over the list. “—Let’s see here… _hmmmmmm_ …. So we need a couple of horse-shoe or stone crab legs and arms. Those should be easy enough to find lying around… _Ahhh,_ a few different seashells would be good. Some whole coral and gray scallop shells, some large auger, a few white dosina, some giant cockles, a handful of actual coral....” She scans the list a little more and lightly taps the collection jar to her chin thinking hard. “...Guess we could use some starfish, dead seahorses, and sharks teeth…. _Uuuuummmm…. OOOO_! Some key-hole sand dollars would be good—”

Asra lazily drops down to his ass on the warm sand sneakily pulling the list out of Rhemi’s hands mid word. Once she notices that he swiped it, she flutters her eyes and whines, “Wha?—HEY! Asra!!!”

Asra just shakes his head slowly with his eyes closed. “Rhemi, Rhemi, Rhemi.... What am I going to do with you? Today is supposed to be a _fun_ and _relaxing_ day.” He says as he folds the paper up carefully then shakes it a bit with a little grin. “Lists are not fun _nor_ are they relaxing. They are work. And bringing work to the beach is kinda a mood killer. Don’t ya think?”

Rhemi folds her arms and raises an eyebrow and starts to pout a bit. “I thought the point of today was to collect ingredients for the shop? That kinda is work, Asra.” She mumbles, looking so cute and pouty like used to when they first met. 

He shakes his head with a long suffering sigh and gives her a pointed look. Sometimes he wishes that she could just take a break without having to justify it. She works so hard. Too hard. Sometimes he thinks she does it so she keeps her mind off of things. She continues to pout until he gives in, cocking his head back. “I _mean,_ I suppose we can look for some of these things later, since your heart is so set on it.” He looks as if he's about to hand her the list back and she reaches down for it with a happy smirk. Just at the last second he pulls it out of her reach, a devious expression on his face when she realizes he isn’t going to give that back just yet. She opens her mouth to protest, but he places his pointer finger on her lips shushing her. “... But how about you first just enjoy this beautiful day?” His eyes shift over to Muriel who is still setting up the shaded area and wiggles his eyebrows. “Ya know. Enjoy the view~” A quick wink makes her finally catch his drift. Like the idea, she smiles again, gives him a wink back, and makes her way over to her boyfriend.

After all of that hard work, Muriel takes a comfortable sit under the umbrella, his thin olive colored cloak loosely covering his head. His large right arm drapes over his pooped up knee, content with the little shelter from the sun he made for his friends and lover. Rhemi shuffles over and joins him, plopping down to a graceful seat on the blanket to his left. The corners of her mouth twitch up a little more she scoots a little closer and leans her head on his bicep. Happy with her by his side, he wraps his arm around her waist and tugs closer. “Thanks for coming, Mur. I know you didn’t really want to.”

“... _Oh… ahh... Y_ -You’re welcome.” He quietly answers, resting his head on her for a brief moment. “...Things are better when you're here anyways.”

She makes a silly love drunk face as she snuggles up to his chest, but pulls away once she feels the cloth of his cloak instead of his warm skin. “Tshhh.. You’re really going to keep that on all day?” She asks, tugging at the cloak, her eyes glancing up at him adorably. He shrugs silently not seeing what the problem is and she pouts a little. “Well—how exactly am I supposed to gawk at my god-like boyfriend’s body?~”

“Huh???—Whhha??” Shocked and unsure how to take that compliment, he tucks his head further under his cloak, turning blood red and she snickers at his floundering. “—S-S-Shuddup...” He then whips his head back towards her realizing how hypocritical she is currently. “You’re one to talk! You haven't taken off your cover-up… _ttttthingy_ yet either.”

Rhemi shrinks into herself a little with a nervous smile. “HA!..... _Ahhhh…_ yeahhh….. I.. _uh,_ ...weelllllll….” A hard exhale expels from her lungs, making her smile fall once again. “....To be honest, I don’t know if you’re going to like the bathing suit those two helped pick out for me…”

Muriel shifts awkwardly, his eyes narrowing before begrudgingly asking. “...Why?”

Rhemi can’t help but flush a bit as she studies the small pink shell she found next to the blanket before dropping in one of the glass collection jars. “…Well…. _Ah_ … It looks a bit…. revealing…” Instandly, she can feel him heat up, her eyes glance back up to meet his and he looks increasingly flustered and she starts to mirror his expression. “—I-I- I mean it’s cute… I really like the color on me, b-but I’m afraid Portia and Julian gave me too much confidence at the time and maybe it was a mistake.”

Asra suddenly slides under the umbrella, placing his head on Muriel’s lap making him jolt in surprise. Faust clings onto the umbrella with her cute little straw hat strapped to her chin with a little string. “Oh come on! I’ve been dying to see it, Rem! And Ilya said it was super cute on you! And he does have pretty good taste~” He then gestures to all of himself and wiggles and eyebrows and bats his eyelashes looking cheeky.

A small doubtful grin takes over Muriel’s mouth and he barks a short chuckle as pushes Asra off into the blanket with one finger. “— _Oof!_ Hey, I was comfy.” Asra jokingly whines, but doesn’t move at all from where he lands, his feet sticking out of the umbrella and into the sand. But he quickly gets comfy again.

Portia walks up behind Rhemi and hugs her neck and shoulders joining the conversation. “Oh gosh, Asra—It’s _sooooo_ cute!!” Portia then lightly smacks Rhemi’s head scoldingly. “—And what are you talking about, Rem?? It really looks amazing on you!” Rhemi nervously laughs a bit and shrugs not knowing how to answer, she didn’t really think that any of them could hear her. Portia then takes off her sun hat and places it on her friend’s head. “We wouldn’t have just said so to boost your ego! C'mon, Rhemi!! No need to be shy! Besides, it's just us here.”

“Yeah! And I wouldn’t have let you get something that didn’t look good!” Julian chimes in sitting down next to Asra and he moves his head over to lay on his lap now. “....Take ….it ….off! Take… it… off!!” Julian starts to chant, then suddenly Asra joins in, then Portia joins, and this growing chant just makes Rhemi’s face get hotter and hotter. Muriel almost tells them to stop and leave her alone, but he actually is too curious and wants to see it for himself as well. “Take it off! Take it off!!! Take it off!!!” They all continue saying it faster and faster and she just groans louder and louder, until—

“—Alright, alright, _ALRIGHT!_ Fine!! Just stop chanting!!!” She says throwing up her hands with an embarrassed giggle. “... _Geez_ , talk about peer pressure.” She mumbles as stands to her feet and out of the shaded area so she doesn't need to crouch.

Nervously, she turns her back towards them as she unties the cover-up from her neck, holding the opposite corners with each hand, slowly unveiling the outfit. Asra and Muriel feel their heartbeat start to accelerate with anticipation, both for very different reasons. It’s a royal blue one piece halter-top that shows off her nice back. Still a bit shy, instead of dropping the ombré green cover-up, she folds it in half and ties it to her waist.

Julian shouts, “Don’t keep them in suspense forever, Rhemi-dear!” She whips just her head around as he says that nickname with a foul gaze and immediately pulls his lips into his mouth with regret. “Sorry.” He hasilty whimpers and Asra flicks his left earlobe. “Ochie....”

Slowly, she turns around to show the front. Her chin over her shoulder, refusing to make eye contact, and her arms stiffly glued to her sides, her legs in a strange unconfident stance. Muriel’s eyes suddenly go comically huge, a large visible shiver shoots down his spine, his face feverish and hot as he sets his eyes on her.

The front of the bathing suit is a deep rectangular shaped cut with three pairs of thick strings crossing over each other for support. It’s incredibly revealing cleavage, especially for her, it shows off her figure well, accentuating all of her natural curves. 

Muriel’s mouth just drops unable to avert his gaze from her breasts. Portia glances up at him, stifling sputtering giggles at his expression. “You’ll catch flies that way…” She teasingly whispers.

Muriel closes his mouth tightly and blinks rapidly unable to think straight for a good minute. Asra hops to his feet, both of his hands squishing his cheeks making a high pitch happy squeal as he walks over to her. “RHEMI! You are _soooooo_ cute!!!” He takes out his hand and she instinctively takes it. He raises it up above her head and she flushes even more. “Spin for me?” She shakes her head with a long sigh, but does what he asks and twirls around and he wriggles in utter awe.

“I-I thought you said _‘nothing too revealing’_...” Muriel finally mumbles over to Julian and Portia. He doesn’t look upset, just a bit conflicted about if than anything.

“I… I did… but then…” Afraid of what he might think, Rhemi pulls her hand away from Asra’s and she twiddles her thumbs looking so timid and shaky like a newborn lamb. “... but then I thought this one was…. kinda cute…. Does it look bad, Muri—?”

“—NO!!” He half shouts, shaking his hands crazily, realizing how terrible he might have sounded. He then covers his mouth wanting to disappear as they all stare at him confused. He takes a second or two to recover from his outburst, clearing his throat. “N-No… I didn’t mean it like _that_.” The hermit huffs as he shrinks into himself. “....It looks… fine. You look…. _Ahhhh_ ….N-N-Nice… I guess.”

The wonderful feeling of relief washes over Rhemi and her heart flutters with joy. “So… Y-you… you like it?” She adorably asks looking at him with her large burgundy eyes rubbing her bicep with her opposite hand, coincidentally squishing her breasts more together.

Feeling uncomfortably pressured under the gaze of his friends, Muriel mumbles bashfully. “Don’t…. don’t make me answer that...” Face red and blanched, he pulls his hood completely over his face to hide his embarrassment so he doesn’t gawk at her. Of course the man likes it. In fact he really likes it—It looks great on her. It’s just a lot more skin that she usually shows on the daily basis… Other than when they are alone and intimate together. The problem is, the more he looks, the more he feels himself getting turned on with the almost skin tight outfit. More turned on than he would like, especially right in front of his friends. His girlfriend looks hot, it’s plain and simple. Sheepishly, he tries to think and look anywhere else other than her large robust rack.

 _“Ooooooo!_ I loooove it!! Wow, you two really outdid yourselves!” Asra continues to praise the Devorak siblings.

Faust flicks her fork tongue, _“Prettttyyyyyyyyy, Rhemi!”_

The two redheads fold their arms proudly smiling ear to ear. “Told you, darling!” Julian says with a smart smirk. “I am a man of fashion after all!”

“Hey! Don’t try and take all of the credit! I’m the one who picked out the one piece.” Portia interjects playfully pushing Julian over a little and she continues. “Julian kept taking out the bikinis, and she kept looking nervous and said that she didn’t want to show all of her skin.”

“Which I appreciate by the way, Portia!” Rhemi adds, slightly folding her arms to hide herself.

Julian suddenly notices that Muriel hasn’t said much, when his eyes glance at her, he looks flustered. Unsatisfied with his lack of praises, he decides to pry a bit, an obvious mistake. Leaning his long torso over to him still sitting on the blanket. “Saaay, Muriel! Don’t you think your, _errrr,_ your little girlfriend looks cute, big guy??”

Muriel just grumbles not saying a word as he feels his face getting hotter and hotter along with his growing embarrassed. “...Shuddup, Ilya.” He mutters under his breath.

The annoying Doctor nudges Muriel’s side, egging him. Muriel starts to sneer, becoming more annoyed. “I see you looking at her~ Don’t be shy, why don’t you tell her, huh?! Tell her she’s cute! _Ahhhhh,_ c’mon! Tell us how adorable you think she looks!”

“Julian, just leave my poor Muri alone!” Rhemi mutters knowing how irritated he makes him as she redoes her bun. “He doesn’t have to say anything else!”

“Ilya, if you had a damn mind, you’d stop talking.” Asra warns, kneeling down to the sand and picking up another pretty shell and blindly handing it to Rhemi as soon as she’s finished with her hair.

“Oh please! This guy is harmless!” With that, Muriel swiftly yet silently stands to his feet and stands behind the Doctor with a blank expression. “...Come on, don’t walk away! Tell us that she looks cu _—UUTEE!!”_ Without hesitation, Muriel picks the Doctor by his trunks, throws him over his shoulder like a long sack of potatoes with flailing limbs. “—Wooh now! Put me down! S-Stop horsing around, Big guy….. Muriel??.... MURIEL???— P-P-PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOOOOOWNNN!! I-I-I DIDN’T MEAN IT!! MURIEL!!!” Julian screamingly pleads to the hermit. In just a few large strides, he trots right up to the crashing water and tosses him effortlessly in the waves, clearly having enough of him.

Portia, Asra, and Rhemi try unsuccessfully to contain their sputtering laughter as they watch the scene unfold. But they soon start to kackle and chuckle, coming close to having tears and hyperventilating. Julian bursts out of the water spitting and sputtering out all the salty sea water from his mouth then starts to cough it up a little.

“We told you not to mess with him, darling!” Asra says every other word laughing so hard.

Completely drenched and feeling a bit embarrassed himself now, he walks out of the water and shrugs. “Yeah I suppose I deserved that.”

As Julain pulls himself out of the water, seaweed entangles his long legs and he attempts to shake it off. Unsuccessfully, he trips and falls to his knees and a particularly large wave comes crashing over him. Muriel's straight face finally breaks, doubling over and he laughs hard as Julian flounders around trying to get out of the water. He picks him back up, ripping off the seaweed with ease.

Out of nowhere, Muriel feels a familiar small torso fall drop to his shoulders, and he crashes into the water. As he comes up for air he realizes that Rhemi comes up with him hugging his neck giggling hysterically but he just stares at her dumbfounded. “How’d you do that?? I didn’t even hear you!”

“Sorry, Love. I just had too!”

“—Where the hell did you come from?” Julian screams, completely confused, half knocked over again by another large wave.

“WOOH! RHEMI DID YOU DO WHAT I THINK YOU DID?!?!?” Portia happily shouts, literally shaking with excitement.

Rhemi's face twists into a large dorky smile that she made when she learned something new and she shimmies her shoulders happily. “You guys wanna see what I did??”

“YES!” Julian shouts and Muriel nods vigorously.

Rhemi draws in a deep breath and Muriel can feel her warm magic bubbling up and her irises turn a bright fiery orange-yellow and she closes her eyes to concentrate. Her body weight and warmth dissipate and can only watch in awe as she literally evaporates in his hands, gold, red, and blue shimmers circling around and round and she vanishes into thin air. Perplexed Muriel and Julian look all around but she's gone. “HEADS UP!!!” She suddenly shouts from above his head as she’s diving into the water a few feet away. There is no possible way she’s up in the sky now… is there?? But there she is, falling out of the sky. As she splashes into the water Muriel quickly comes over to pull her up, knowing it's too deep for her. But she’s not there, gold, red, and blue shimmers only left behind. Did she do it again?

Muriel glances over to a rather clueless looking Julian. “Where’d she go now??” Julain just shrugs completely

“Yoo-hoo!!!” She shouts, completely soaked and on her ass looking a little dizzy after all that magic. She stands back up to her feet and wrings out her soaked bun again with a huge toothy smile.

Asra and Portia’s clasping their faces in shock. “THAT WAS AMAZING!!!” Portia shouts, her feet dancing about..

“B-b-but you were there! N-now you’re there—How’d you-?! Wha-huh—???” The Doctor keeps stuttering half formed sentences completely dumbfounded. “WHAT WAS THAT, RHEMI?!?!”

“ _Tee-hee~_ Pretty cool right?! I’ve been dying to show you guys!!!—”

“—You learned Evaporation?!?!?” Arsa exclaims. “You’re Aunt was the only other human magician I knew who could do that!!”

She just smiles adorably and nods her head. “Maaaybbbbbbeee~”

“So…… You can, _errr,_ just pop up anywhere you want now??” Julian utters with his eye wide, glowing with the terrible possibilities.

Rhemi puts her hands in front her and shakes them. “—Oh! No, no no! It’s nothing like that! However that would be really cool. But I can only evaporate so far away, give or take 15 feet or so. I can only do it so many times, it takes an absurd amount of magic, so it’s not very handy in a fight other than run away. I’m still figuring it all out. And I can’t do anything else after I do it--But it's still a pretty neat party trick, _right??”_

“I’d say!” Portia utters giddily. “You have to show me how to do it one day!”

“...Show off.” Muriel teases his Rhemi and she playfully sticks out her tongue at him. But she can tell, he’s proud of her, which makes her heart flutter.

The day goes on, the friends all go swimming and playing in the water, Rhemi even convinces Muriel to go into the water with her. Worried somehow she might get pulled out with the undertow he stays in arms reach. But she swam rather well.

Two hours or so later, the group of friends gather around under the umbrellas and enjoy the wonderful picnic that Asra and Muriel kindly packed. Not too heavy where it hurt your stomach afterwards, but also not too light where it leaves you wanting more. They at least packed enough food for lunch and dinner if they chose to stay until then. Asra hands Rhemi a small cucumber sandwich, and she takes it happily. Just before she takes a bite, peers to all her friends as they talk amongst themselves. She lowers the sandwich to her lap and she sheepishly mutters. “Hey, everyone.” They simultaneously cease their side conversations and look to her. “... T-Thank you all for doing this for me. I know I can be a bit odd at times... and I can’t always explain myself. But… I’m so happy that you all have been so understanding. I really appreciate all of you.” Portia rests her head lovingly on her friend’s shoulder as she continues and Rhemi leans back. “.. I know I say I hate my birthday, and I still do… but… I seriously think this is one of the best ones I ever had… So, ahhh, yeah--thanks.”

“You’re always here for us, Rhemi. And we’re here for you too.” Asra says with a kind smile.

Julian covers his mouth that's full of sandwich and muffles. “M’m -ust gwad made ya feew bewwer, Whemi.”

Rhemi and Portia can’t help but laugh at her brother, he sounds ridiculous with food in his mouth. “You guys are the best.”

“You're a sap.” Muriel says jokingly and she nudges him a little. “...But a cute sap.”

“I knooooooow.”

————-

The wonderful day goes on, and the sun starts to hover over the horizon.

Asra and Faust nap in the shade, while Julian reads them both a book. While the couple snuggle up together, Portia, Rhemi and Muriel then decide to go searching for things on her list before the sun goes down. Portia even had an idea to make a little competition of who could get the most things to spice things up a bit. Surprisingly, Muriel gets really into the contest and they all go searching off on their own, but within ear and eyeshot.

Despite Muriel originally not wanting to come here, he looks like he’s actually enjoying himself, which makes Rhemi very happy. Also the way things are going, she might have even more items than she was hoping for.

A strange feeling of nostalgia creeps inside her chest as she sees a bright colorful shell peeking through the sand catches her attention. Curious, she makes her way over to inspect it, an ominous humming in her ears. As she kneels down to pick it up, she places the collection jar down to her left. Pulling it out, she discovers that it was much bigger than she had thought, the size, covered by the sand. Gently brushing off the caked on clumps of dirt, she realizes it’s a rather large conch shell. It's a beautiful ivory color with pink and flecks of green by the spirals. The only kind of colors an artist wishes they could paint. Bizarrely, it looks exactly like one that lives on the shelf back in the shop, the one that she always likes to admire. Lost in thought she runs her fingers over the groves feeling the smoothie parts in between them, the sensation all too familiar. _Huh… Weird. What are the odds of finding another shell exactly like—_

As she lifts her eyes, she suddenly finds herself alone sitting on the beach, the collection jars to her left and vanishes and there isn’t a soul in sight. As she gazes up towards the sky, there are clouds that weren’t there a minute ago. Confused, she whips her head left and right, but there a single person, nor animal. “....Muriel?” She mutters, still desperately looking around, a bit confused. “Muriel??... Portia??.... _A-Anybody??”_

Glancing back down, she notices that her chest is much smaller, she is wearing a completely different swimsuit, and everything looks so much bigger than it did a minute ago. As she stands to her feet to look all around her, realizing her figure has dwarfed down to the body of an adolescent. Observing her hands, she’s no older than thirteen or fourteen at most.

“Rhemiiiiii!” A strong mid ranged female voice calls out to her. It rings in her ears like a distant echo. It has a very slight gruff raspiness in the sound, but hearing it makes her heart flutter and feels warm. Whipping her entire body around to the direction where the voice is coming from, her head turns left and right searching. But she still doesn’t see anyone. The beach is now hazy and slightly distorted. “Rhemi!… _Mon petit oiseau! Où es-tu?_ ”

_….Why do I feel like I know this voice? Why do I feel like I’ve missed it so much?_

“Rhemi-Roo!!” Another voice calls out, it's much more soft and faint like a dove, it’s higher pitch, but also distorted a bit. Still, it felt confronting, silky, and beautiful… but also a little melancholic. Hearing their voice sends a shiver down her spine, then an overwhelming stinging of bittersweetness. “...Come on, Roo! We’re having lunch! You need to eat!” Somehow Rhemi just appears on a blanket, sitting cross legged, the large shell proudly sitting next to her. It’s rather jarring, it almost doesn’t feel real, it's more like a very vivid dream… or perhaps… a distant memory?

Two women sitting next to each other, one handing her a sandwich. Rhemi tries to squint so she can see the two lady’s features, but the sunlight is blinding her, rendering incapable of making out details of the two faces. She could only point out that one with the deeper voice has much dark skin, short black and purple thick dreadlocks, she’s very well built, her body toned and strong and a bit tall. The other woman is much more frail, petite, with fair and pale complexion. She’s wearing a large sun hat and her hair is a dirty blonde color and has waves with little curls on the ends. For all Rhemi knows, the two women could be angelic beings. You don’t have to see all of their features to know that they were both equally beautiful.

“Eat up, dearie. Before the seagulls get—” A sudden gasp shoots out the taller one’s mouth “—HEY!! DROP THAT!!!”

Perplexed, Rhemi’s eyes still have a hard time seeing. Another flash and there is a small kid with baggy clothes quickly snatches the picnic basket. Unlike the two women, their features are clear as day. White untamed poofy hair, purple eyes, dark olive colored skin, and dirty bare feet. Their clothes are strangely vibrant, a long lavender shirt, and a oversized bright red scarf around their neck, not very common to poor thieves.

Unable to control her voice, suddenly Rhemi shouts with such virosity in her voice. “HEYYYYYY!!” Springing to her feet, she starts to chase after them down the beach towards the rocky cliff. “GET BACK HERE, YOU GRUBBY LITTLE THIEF!!!”

“R-Rem!! Get back here!!—” The soft voice from the frail woman calls, but immediately starts to have a coughing fit after. Rhemi wants to turn to see if the woman is alright, but she is no longer in control of her body.

“RHEMI! LEAVE THEM BE!!” The gruffer voice commands, but Rhemi definitely ignores it as she takes off behind the little picnic basket thief. “GET BACK HERE, CHILD!!!”

The kid’s fast even with the loose coarse sand resisting their feet, but so is little Rhemi. Not looking back, the child runs and runs but slows down little by little. Confident in his speed, he thinks safe. Finally, he glances behind with a proud fox-like smirk, the wicker basket clutched in both hands. But as soon as he turns around, he sees a very angry Rhemi barreling right for him behind. His smug expression turns to pure panic and he makes a run for it down the shallow rocky tide pools. “COME BACK YOU LITTLE THIEF!!! THAT’S OUR LUNCH!!” She screams in anger heavy in her voice.

The thief tries to dodge her left and right, doing his best to lose her, but she’s just too fast. Finally, he turns around, opening the palm of his right hand. He has something very bright—it’s a flash spell and it's charging up. As he rears back his arm to throw it. The handle of the basket falling to the crease of his elbow as he uses the left to cover his eyes with his dark crimson scarf. But Rhemi quickly covers her eyes with the forearm and casts up a dark shield, charging right through it like a mad bull. The white haired thief face goes pale, horrified that his trick didn’t work. “Crap! You’re a magic user??”

“That’s right, jerk face!!” Rhemi replied cockily, then lunged forwards, making dash for the basket.

The kid dodges, then surprising, he looks suddenly somewhat happy. “....Wait! That's kinda cool! I haven't met another one before my age!!”

“Pshhh, _Yeah, okay_ \--NOW GIMME BACK OUR BASKET, YOU ASS!!”

The boy giggles with a smirk, looking a bit impressed, but doesn’t make an attempt to move again. “Sorry~ But I need this more than you!” The young Rhemi dodges forwards towards the little erchant, but she fazes right through him, landing right into a small tide pool, nearly missing her head on a rock.

 _“AAAAHHHH!!!”_ She screams.

_—SPLASSSSSHHH!!!_

Shocked, she scrambles to her feet gasping for air, coughing the water out of her lungs and vigorously wiping away the stinging sea water from her eyes. Confused, she looks back to where the boy once was, but he’s completely turned into smoke. It was all just an illusion. He completely bamboozled her. 

Now fuming with anger, Rhemi rings out her soaking wet ponytail, fearing that she lost him along with their lunch and nice basket. It was an expensive one too. In the far off distance she can hear her name being called by one of the women she was with, it sounds like she’s rather cross with her too. Feeling the gut wrenching feeling of defeat, Rhemi nearly turns back to the blanket where two women were at, tail between her legs.

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she sees small footprints heading up towards what appears to be a cave on the small rocky cliff side. Hasilty she follows the trail, listening, the little enchant’s high pitch voice echoing inside. Her chest leaps with joy knowing that she hadn’t lost him, but anger quickly replaces it again. “Gotcha now, you little thief...” She whispers to herself.

“Rhemi!!! You better get back here _RIGHT NOW!_ ” The raspy voices from the taller woman calls from the far off distance. “RHEMIIII!!! Your mother is worried sick!!” Rhemi still can’t seem to control herself as she continues to ignore her name being called and hasilty makes her way towards the cliff side to prose the basket bandit. 

Opening her palm she summons a very small ball of light illuminating her way through the entrance of the cave. If she wasn’t so angry she’d realize how scary the dark cave was. It was pitch black, moist, and just unpleasant. Sand lined most of the ground along with the smooth rocks from the high tides. The water must fill the mouth of the cave during the high tide, shutting off the entrance, unless of course there was another way out evidenced by the standing pockets of sea water scattered. Carefully she travels through the dark just the small light to guide her. She fears that she might have lost the kid once again, and that he tricked her again. But her heart starts to pound as she sees a chamber up just ahead. It’s lit up with small fire and smells the faint hint of incense and myrrh. _Where did that kid get incense from?? Probably stole that too!!!_ She angrily thinks to herself. Stealthily, she closes the palm of her hand, extinguishing the ball of light as she tiptoes through the cold damp cave avoiding the tide pools. The ocean waves from outside dampening her footsteps along with the sand, so she still sneaks up undetected.

A harsh chill runs down her spine as soon as she hears another voice. It’s a male’s voice, but this one is deeper, not one of a typical child’s, more like a grown-up’s. It rumbles like thunder, and he sounds tired and gravely. “.... Where did you get that from?”

“Does it matter where I got it?” The other voice lets out a low grumble. In response then a sharp sigh from the small white-haired boy. “...It was given to me.”

“... Meaning you _stole_ it.”

“Not exactly.” A few seconds pass, even though Rhemi can’t see either of the two strangers faces, she could still feel the tension. “—Fine.” The white-haired boy gives in. “...I stole it—But now we have something to eat. And they're not just scrapes!” He actually sounds happy when he says that last part.

“...You’re gonna get yourself hurt doing this.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

Peaking over the large rock, Rhemi sees the White-haired thief’s feet as he sits on his knees, left of the fire, defences foolishly lowered. Quickly she hides herself pressing her back behind a large stalagmite, continuing to eavesdrop on the two strangers' conversation, strategizing her next move.

“S-s-stop stealing for me!.... I’m not worth you getting hurt.” The gruffer voice says with a dry cough. “Just stop coming here. Go find food for yourself.”

“You steal for me all the time!”

“—So you don’t have to!”

“And that’s got you hurt in the first place!… Besides, no one can catch me~ I’m too fast— _GGGGAAAAAHH!!!”_

Suddenly Rhemi jumps out from behind the stalagmite, tackling the little white-haired kid, and they roll around on sand, her hands clutched to his back like a spider monkey. “GET OFF OF HIM!!” Growls the deep voice but all she sees the white-haired boy’s purple shocked eyes as they tug at the basket.

Little Rhemi then manages to pin the kid on his back and wrestles the picnic basket out of his hands. “Got you know ya’ lil sh _—OOOOF!”_ As soon as it’s in her hands she stands up, about to hightail it out of the cave, but quickly loses her balance and falls down on her rear with a hard thud. Fear suddenly fills her chest and goes on the defensive, wrapping her little legs around the basket, flames in one hand, a handful of sand in the other. With a quick move on her part, she uses the heat of the flames to form five inch shards of glass, then float them in the air around her. Knowing that she’s outnumbered and weak, she has to be smart. This isn’t the first time she had to defend herself, and won’t be the last.

The white-haired kid stagers to his feet, his eyes are wide and completely gobsmacked. Rhemi does her best to stop shaking, but she’s scared. “Stay away from me or I’ll… I’ll..” Rhemi’s attention goes straight to the other person who the deeper voice belongs to. It’s a huge figure hiding underneath an old tattered dark green embroidered blanket, he’s giant in comparison to both Rhemi and the small white-haired kid—taller than the average man even, over six foot tall. His hair is jet black, but that's all she can really see of him. He looks awful, his left foot looks swollen and angry all the way up to his calf, his skin pale and clammy.

For nearly a full minute, the three just stare at each other in silence not really sure what to do. Finally, the white-haired thief throws up his hands with an innocent expression in front of him to show that he isn’t a threat. He looks a little pale now that she notices. “Okay. Hold on now. How about we just take a deep breath and—” He tries to get a step closer, but Rhemi bares her teeth and rears back her hand with the glass shards threateningly, ready to let them lose on the boy if she had to. He flinches a little, realizing that she isn’t one to be trifled with. He takes a wary step back, and stares at her with his purple eyes as empathetic as possible. He looks scared too.“—W-We don’t want trouble…”

“Then why did you steal our basket??” She growls tucking the basket closer with his legs.

“I’m sorry- I didn’t have a choice!”

“There is _always_ a choice!!!”

“....You have the basket back, girl. Now go away and don’t come back.” The boy under the blanket mutters.

“No! Wait.” The white-hair kid swallows hard, glancing over the other boy, knowing that he has to tell the truth. “...Look…. My friend here isn’t doing well—”

“—Stop! Don’t say anything!!” The boy from the blanket panickingly growls, attempting to stand up, but falls right back down to his little make-shift bed and grunts in pain, clutching his left leg and gritting his teeth. “.....S-She might be working for the Count.” His voice awkwardly cracks almost every other word. He might be taller than a normal grown man and his voice is incredibly deep, but he must be only sixteen or seventeen, still going through puberty, still growing into his deep voice.

 _The count? Count Lucio?_ Little Rhemi has never seen him before, but she has heard a lot of bad things about him. Perhaps this tall kid got into trouble with the palace guards.

“—He needs food..” The young purple-eyed thief continues. “...And so do I. Neither of us have eaten in days, and I can’t help him if I don’t have the strength.” Taking a moment to ponder this over, she notices that the kid’s cheekbones are a little sunken in. And it was rather easy to take the basket from him, and she wasn’t very strong either. From the looks of things, that illusion probably was the last of his magic he could muster without passing out, which explains his sudden paleness.

The boy under the blanket grumbles what sounds to be a name that starts with A, but she can’t really make it out. “ _No_ I don’t. I told you, I’m…. I’m not even hungry.”

“He won’t say, but he needs help.” The white haired kid continues to plead, and the other boy increasingly gets more flustered.

Finally, Rhemi lowers her defenses, but still is rather cautious. The fire and the glass shards disappear into the ground and she calmly stands back to her feet, brushing the sand off her bum. “.... If he needs help, than let me go get my—”

“—NO!” The kid pleads, knowing exactly what she’s about to suggest. “No adults— _Please!_ Then they’ll take me to the orphanage, and send my friend to a workhouse—or worse! W-we’ll be separated!” Such fear in his eyes cuts into Rhemi’s chest and he takes another deep inhale before continuing. “Please…. from magician to fellow magician… just give us some of the food.” Unconvinced, Rhemi stares the kid down, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed. In a last attempt, he folds his hands together desperately begging. “... I-I-I’ll even give you back the basket and the other stuff in it. Just some bread and cheese will do.”

 _No one else has called me a magican before… Everyone else calls me and my family witches._ The young Rhemi thinks to herself. Finally she huffs, giving in. “... Fine.” Sitting on her knees to the sand she carefully takes out all the loaf of bread and the wedge of cheese along with some parchment paper. Knowing that the boy would have to eventually steal again once they run out, she even leaves them a couple of apples and the remaining roast beef sandwiches the woman packed and mostly emptying out the basket other than the silverware, cutting-ware, and ceramic plates (which were the most valuable parts anyways).

She stands back to her feet and walks backwards a few feet away, still cautious of the strange two enchants. The white-haired boy looks so genuinely relieved as he collects the food she left them. He looks her in the eye and smiles softly with his hand completely full. “Thanks.”

Rhemi rolls her eyes, trying to act all annoyed by the entire situation, even though she wasn’t really, and starts to scold him. “You should really ask next time, kid. We would have given you some—” The boy under the blanket suddenly starts to violently shiver, chattering his teeth, trembling terribly and Rhemi stops mid-sentence feeling empathetic towards him. Something is clearly wrong with him more than just an injury. “... What’s wrong with your friend?”

“...N-... None of your b-.... business, girl… J-....just go a—away.” The older boy tries to sound mean and rough, but the shivering makes him less threatening. Young Rhemi might be still a child herself, but somehow she knows that she has been forced to grow up in a short amount of time. She knows how to read people. And she knows when people mean what they say, but she knows he doesn’t.

Still, Rhemi’s brow furrows and she sticks her bottom lip out a bit at his unnecessary surliness. She decides to glance at the white-haired kid instead for information. _“Soooo??”_ She persistently asks, putting the basket back down to the cave floor, folding her arms, not budging an inch until she got an answer.

For some reason or another, the white-haired kid quickly trusts her. Maybe it's the fact that she gave him the food willingly or perhaps that she isn’t going and asking the adults for help; maybe it’s even a combination of the two. He steps closer, and she lets him approach only slightly flinching. “H-... He’s running a fever. A-And the cut on his foot won’t heal. I’ve tried everything with the herbs I could find from the forest, but he’s better at it than m—.”

“—WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The boy under the blanket hisses to his friend. “We don’t even know her!”

 _“Hmmm…_ His wounds won’t heal…” She tilts her head thoughtfully, thinking about what she learned about injuries from her studies. “... Is he running a fever?”

The young boy nods. “That started today.”

“...Is there gross stuff like puss coming out from his wound?”

“...Y-Yeah. There is. Why?”

Tapping her right foot, pondering a little more, she thinks she might know what’s going on. “... You say you're not hungry, _boy_?” She reluctantly asks the older one.

“...Why the he-he-hell do you c-c-care?” The older boy snaps harshly, wrapping himself more in the cloth.

“I don’t.” She scoffs lifting her nose up snobbishly, looking down at him from the other side of the chamber.

“Then go away.” He snarls in relation pointing to the entrance of the cave with his unstable hand.

A mean smirk creeps up in the corners of Rhemi’s lips and she folds her arms walking sassily over to him. “...Make me.” She says provokingly, standing over him. She might be small, but somehow her aura feels large, and he can feel it. A tense silence takes over and all that can be heard in the cave is the water dripping from the stalactites from the cave’s condensation. Her piercing red gaze makes his blood boil, he already didn’t feel well, with her here, he feels so much worse. People are just exhausted as it is, he just wants to disappear. Just as she thought, he curls up into himself like a little scared kitten, he’s too injured to really move anyways and he knows it.

Unafraid, she squats down in front of him with a rude tut. “You’re all bark and no bite, _huh_ , _Blanket boy?_ ”

He scowls as she calls him that, he doesn’t like it one bit, it’s nothing offensive, but it does make him feel small. This child is literally a third of his height, yet she asserts herself like she's eight feet tall. “You don’t wanna find out how hard I bite.” The boy grumbles, hoping that would make her back away from him, but she is even more unfazed by his threats.

She opens her mouth about to make another snide comment, but then her eyes move down at his injured foot. He had a large half inch wide cut from the sole of his foot around the arch to the top of it. Her smirk falls as she studies the cut, and the faint tone of caring radiates through her voice. “Geez—what happened to you?” The injury was moderately deep, and it seems like it's started the process of a bad infection. No wonder he can’t get up. “How long has it been like this??”

Little Rhemi reaches out for his foot to get an even better look at it, but he quickly scoots away. “... None of your business…. Told you to go away or I’ll… I’ll—”

“—You’ll _what_?” She glares at him cockily summoning magic into her right hand. “You’ll _bite_ me?” The light in her hand glows vibrantly, giving off a cool blueish-white wispy light that brightens up his hidden features. He’s dirty, his dark hair is past his shoulders, he still has a bit of a baby face. But she can see a faint hint of peach fuzz on his top lip, and his eyes are a deep, rather pretty mossy green. He really is just a teenager. “...You don’t scare me, _Blanket boy_ … Cause I bite back.” She whispers condescendingly, her red gaze feels somehow cold despite the warm color. The boy scowls at her rather hatefully and she reaches down for his foot again. “Now hold still.”

“… What are you doing??” The younger whitehaired kid asks squatting next to her intrigued by her magic. _“Wow…”_

“I’m going to help your dumb tall friend here.” She replies snobbily. The boy under the blanket stiffens and wants to just get away from her, not wanting her to touch him, but can barely move without getting dizzy. “... His foot won’t heal because it’s infected.”

 _“Woooooooh—”_ The white haired thief mutters in awe getting closer and closer to her hands with his fingers wanting to touch it.

 _“—SHUSH!_ I need to concentrate! Would ya give me some space, kid??— _GEEZ!!_ ” She snaps giving him an irritated pointed look and the magic dims slightly.

A faint blush appears on the kid’s face and he backs away a little. “S-..Sorry.”

Rolling her eyes, she attempts to summon her healing magic again. “...Do you want me to help your friend or not?” She mutters under her breath.

The older boy starts to lowly grumble again. “I told you, girl. I don’t need your h—”

Suddenly her brow furrows, and she slaps the ground with her hand. The dims even more, completely losing all her focus. “—Do you wanna _die, Blanket boy_?” A chilling silence creeps in the cave as the word ‘die’ echoes throughout the cave’s walls.

“Die??” The white haired boy repeats, a hint of panic in his tone, tears swelling. “Wha- Wha- What do you mean _die_??”

The boy under the blanket eye’s widens, and darts between Rhemi and his friend, now hanging onto every word she says. Rhemi cocks her head back with an annoyed scoff, and she begrudgingly explains very seriously. “… If the infection spreads, he'll get blood poisoning and die… Now will ya’ let me work here?” Summoning all of her magic, she softly closes her eyes, her mind focusing on drawing out the infection. The two boys can’t help but stare at her as the magic flows from her, her hair floats a bit, it feels warm like a fire. Her eyes open once again, such focus and determination behind them. “Hold still, this might hurt.” She actually sounds empathetic when she says that part.

Before the older boy can argue back, Rhemi’s magic surrounds his foot like a floating liquid and enters his open dirty gash on the sole of his large foot. The boy forces himself to not grimace as the liquid energy flows into his wound. His white-haired friend comes beside him, holding his broad shoulders to comfort him and to steady him. Rhemi knows he’s in pain, she doesn’t enjoy hearing him stifle his painful yelps and screams, but she knows she must keep going. She wasn’t lying to them either, if the infection gets worse, he could really die. A horrible, painful death too.

Slowly but surely, little Rhemi draws out the puss, the dirt, the tiny rocks and the other foreign debris along with bad blood away from his rather large foot and it starts to return back to a normal color again. Not so puffy and red or angry looking. When she glances up to see if he’s doing alright, he instantly just looks away, hiding his face in his blanket refusing to look her in the eye. He doesn’t seem repulsed at the carnage as he is uncomfortable with her being so close to him _. He must not like people very much. People must not like him very much either—not with his crappy attitude._ She thinks to herself.

On the contrary, the young white-haired kid continues to watch every single thing she does. Utterly fascinated with her work as the infection flows out of the wound and in a liquid ball and floats in the air above her with her opposite hand.

She keeps going until she sees healthy bright red blood flow. It seems that she got as much as she possibly could, and she moved her hand away from the boy’s foot. The pain seems to have also diminished as he wiggles his toes and ankle. He attempts to hide his faciation as well, not wanting to give her the satisfaction that he’s impressed by her at all. She’s a snooty brat and he wants her to know it.

With a flick of her wrist, she throws the infected liquid over to the sand and it soaks up into the thirsty ground. She’s tired, and wipes the sweat off her brow with her forehead. “Wooow!!! You’re amazing! I’ve never seen this kind of magic before.” Gawks from the young kid and makes her flush a bit and she shakes off a prideful grin.

Rhemi looks at the still prominently open gash, it is still pretty deep, but nothing too bad like she had originally thought. She wishes that the two boys would let Athena come and help. She would know how to stitch up skin back together, then the boy could possibly walk sooner. But little Rhemi was still learning that technique and used too much magic as it is. Left with no other way, she stands up taking off her yellow wrap that's tied to her hip, tearing it into long strips, sprints towards a nearby tide pool. Sanitizing her hands and the cloth with the salt water before walking back to the poorly made-shift bed and sitting back to her knees where she was before.

The boy under the blanket instinctively draws his foot back when she attempts to bandage it knowing that the salt water was going to sting him. His foot is now oozing with fresh red blood and it drips down to the messy bedding; It needs to be properly wrapped tight so it applies enough pressure or all this work would be for nothing. “A-Aren’t you done yet?” He grumbles under his breath, looking so uncomfortable.

“Does it _look_ like I’m done?” Impatiently, she grabs him by the calf and places back to where it was. He’s leg is heavy and he is very strong, but oddly, he doesn’t really fight her back. “... Just sit there miserably and sulk—you’re seem pretty good at that.” She snarkily replies and the boy folds his arms looking away again. For a second she thinks she sees a glimpse of blush on his face down to his neck… or it could very well be the fever still.

“Don’t worry, she’s almost done.” The white-haired boy pats his friend's shoulders comfortingly, handing him a bundle of what smells like myrrh from his pocket and he holds it close to his chest. “Where did you learn to do that?” The younger boy asks, still fascinated with her work. “You know a lot for being just a kid like me.”

Without thinking Rhemi starts to answer him, still wrapping the large foot. “My mother’s, _ahhh_ —” Suddenly she freezes, stopping herself from finishing her statement for a moment. Feeling a bit panicked for some reason, but doesn’t remember why. “...I mean—My _ahh_ …. M-my Aunt… She’s a scholar and a healer. I’m her Apprentice.” She then mutters and goes back to wrapping the foot, the panic slowly going away. “—And I’m not a kid, I’m a _teenager._ I just turned thirteen yesterday.” She adds feeling slightly offended and flips her little ponytail proudly.

“You’re not that much older than me!” He giggles at her pridefulness a little pink on his cheeks.

After the older boy’s foot was completely bandaged she huffs tirelessly and inspects her work again, making sure it wasn’t too tight or too loose. Satisfied with what she could do, she blows a stray strand of her bangs that tickles her nose out of her face. “There.... Your ungrateful friend’s fever should go down now. But he shouldn’t walk on it for awhile. Probably should make him a crutch or something.” The boy under the blanket stays quiet as she grabs an apple and hands it to him. “Hey, _Blanket boy_. You should really eat. For some reason your weird friend wants to keep you around. And I’m not willing to waste all that magic I used for you to roll over and croak from starvation.”

Silence. Rhemi shakes the fruit at him and he groans irritably. “.....That’s not my name.” He growls under the blanket, gently pushing her hand out of his face with a single finger, refusing to take the fruit.

She sets the apple down beside him, her mean teasing smirk returning to her lips. “Ohhhh, alright. Then what is your name, smart guy?” The older boy looks past her shoulder and stays silent. “Fine, if you don’t wanna tell me a name then, I’ll just have to keep calling you _Blanket boy_ ~” She snarkily says bobbing her head a little, sticking her nose up at him again and standing to her feet. If looks could kill, then she would have been dead quite a while ago. That boy made it clear that he didn’t like her one bit and so did she. And yet… She did help them both out, really she didn’t have to.

The older boy never met a person quite like her before, she was rude and acted all superior. She even went out of her way to make him feel like she disliked him, teasing him, insulting him. Yet was so strangely keen on helping him.

“Welp. I better get going. I’m gonna be in enough trouble as it is.” Rhemi stretches out her arms over her head before walking back to the picnic basket to pick it up. “Hey, white-haired kid. If you want your dumb friend to get better, wash his bandage with the salt water when they are soaked, make sure he drinks plenty of water—and I mean clean water, keep him off his foot as much as possible…. Also, keep him fed even if he says he doesn’t want anything. The infection might not be all gone, but I at least got most of it… I think...” Without another word, Rhemi starts to make her way out the lit chamber, this peculiar encounter over.

The boy under the blanket looked at the delicate handiwork on his foot, the pain is a lot better now and he doesn’t feel nearly as dizzy and weak like he did before. The food, not giving them away, helping him, he felt so confused. Unable to stop himself he pulls the blanket off of his head and says. “Stop.” Before she got too far. A bit shocked at his sudden request she turns her head and raises an eyebrow, just noticing how green his eyes are. “....Why are you helping us? We don’t even know you.”

Her attitude suddenly softens, and she averts her eyes, a somber expression washes over her. She can’t seem to answer right away, like she doesn’t exactly know what herself. Finally she answers. “....Because I don’t like to see people hurt…. even if they are just two _weirdos_ in a gloomy cave.”

“RHEMII!!! Where are you, girl??” The gruffer woman’s voice calls again, heavy with panic. She’s been gone awhile now, and they’re probably worried sick.

“I-... _ah,_ I’ve gotta go.” She whispers so her family doesn’t come and find the two boys in here. She suddenly whips herself around and points and the white-haired boy scoldingly as she still heads out the cave. “And I better not catch either of you stealing our picnic basket again!!”

“Hey, wait! What’s your name?” The white haired boy quickly asks as she heads out of the chamber, a ball of light ready in her hand.

“It’s _Nunya._ ”

 _“Nunya?_ Is that language is that—?”

“It's _Nunya_ business!”

The white haired boy suddenly bursts into a quiet laughter. Rhemi can’t help but smile a bit too thinking how cute the white-haired kid’s smile was. The other boy just rolls his eyes, covering his head back with the blanket, but has a little smile too. “Well, thanks a lot, Nunya business!” The white-haired boy continues. “Really. Thank you. We owe you.”

“YeahthanksIguess.” Blanket boy quietly mumbles.

Rhemi closes her eyes a little, what feels like just a second. “....You’re welcome.”

… Nothing but darkness can be seen now. She isn’t sure if her eyes are still closed or if she’s just looking into the dark cave without any light. All she can hear is the gruffer voice calling out for her. “RHEMI!!! Where are you??” The woman sounds so scared, but it starts to slightly distort… or is it now a different voice? A man’s?

_“....RHEEMIIIIIIII !!!! Rhemi!!!”_

_…. Rhemi……._

“…...Rhemi?...” A large hand slides through her fingers and suddenly she finds herself back to reality. She softly squeals and jumps about a foot off the ground and looks up to Muriel’s worried mossy eyes. She then realizes that she's standing in the very cave she was in the vision she had. “...M-Muri?” Confusion and fear washes over her and she throws her arms around her lover’s neck and he slightly picks her off her feet, hugging her tight, relieved that she’s alright. “Wha?...What’s going on??” She asks, pulling away, still in his arms.

“... You just…. ran off all of a sudden!”

“Wait—I… I did?”

“...One minute you were in my sights, looking at something in the sand near the dunes, the next you're sprinting down the beach like you were in a trance. Portia and I were calling for you, but it seemed like you couldn’t hear us—Then you were just… gone!” Her stomach twists eerily and a chill runs down her spine as he continues. “...We got Julian and Asra to look for you too.”

“How long was I gone?”

“Nearly an hour! We couldn’t find you… I… well, _we_ all were so worried…” He squeezes her a little tighter burying his face in her neck.

“I’m so sorry, Love.” She mumbles squeezing him back, feeling so guilty. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“What were you doing anyways?....” He lifts his face away from her neck and he looks all around the cave looking so uncomfortable. “...How do you even know this place??”

“What??”

“....This cave.” He mumbles, setting her back down to her feet. “Why are you in here?”

She scratches her head and her eyes avert over to the cavern wall of the chamber the two eurchant boys were in, shiny and wet from all the condensation. “I…. I dunno… I was chasing a kid.... They stole our picnic basket.”

“.... _What?_.... What are you talking about?” Muriel stares at his girlfriend as if she has grown two heads. He hasn’t given her that look in quite some time and she feels a bit stupid.

“I mean… not now….. I guess…. It was back then?” Rhemi tries to correct herself. But Muriel just looks at her a bit concerned, has she lost it? She scoffs, “I’m really not making sense am I?”

“Nnnnno.” He gently shakes his head.

She takes a deep breath and rubs her face with her hands, trying to think of a way to better explain what exactly she had seen. Mostly in a way that she doesn’t sound like a loon. “It…. it was a like…. like a vision?.... But it was so real. Somehow I… I was a kid again, and I was with these two women on the beach…. I think they were Athena and my Mum… for some reason I couldn’t make out their faces— _Anyways!_ A kid stole our picnic basket, and I chased after them. I nearly lost him, but then they ran into this cave… and I…there was this other boy there…well here!...” Muriel flutters his eyes in disbelief, he isn't looking at her like she's crazy anymore, but she still feels like she sounds like a crazy person. _“Uggggghhh_ —I...I still sound insane right now, don’t I?” She pouts, feeling rather annoyed at herself.

Muriel shakes himself out of his stupor and brushes a stray hair out of her face. “No. No… just, _ah…._ K-... keep going… what else happened?”

She taps on her bottom lip, looking at the ball of light thoughtfully. _“Ummm…_. Well….Okay— So I followed the other kid in here—wait I already said that…. _Hmmm—_ Ohh! So I wrestled that picnic basket out of the kid’s hands, but then there was this other boy under an old tattered blanket and, _gods,_ he did _not_ like me!...” She turns, beginning to pace a little around while she speaks, talking faster and faster, just ranting away all the while Muriel becomes stiffer and stiffer for some odd reason. “... The kid that stole the basket then told me that he only stole it because the other boy was sick and needed food, I felt bad, so I gave them the food—T-then before I left I noticed that the older boy was hurt and had a bad infection in his foot…” She finally stops pacing around, slowing down her rant and faces her lover again, her face looking a bit guilty. “.... Then I was kinda being a brat and I kept… and I kept calling him...”

Red starts to take over Muriel’s face and Rhemi glances into his green eyes. The same green eyes she remembers seeing in her memory. She then quickly looks down to his bare left foot, a large scar cutting up from the sole of his foot around the arch to the top of the foot. Exactly where the boy under the blanket was. Her eyes became comically large and she stuck her pointer finger at him and mumbles. “.... _Blanket boy_??”

Startled and flustered and bewildered all at the same time Muriel’s face and chest crimson red. “Goddamnit—You-you remember that?”

“—THAT BOY WAS _YOU?_???” She half shouts immediately covering her mouth as she echoes throughout the caverns and some bats chatter a bit. “...That was _YOU?_ ” She whispers.

Muriel shrinks into his shoulders wanting to disappear at this moment and they just stand there in the dark cave with the small ball of light illuminating their faces. Finally he grabs her hand, tugging her out of the dark place dropping the subject for now. “...Let’s get out of here, the others are still probably searching.”

Agreeing with him, she expands the ball of light and sends it ahead to help brighten their way, but he seems to know his way through the dark. It was a much longer way out than she remembers, it feels like it takes forever, but finally they reach the mouth of the cave. By the time they exist, it’s twilight and hardly any sun is left in the horizon. Luckily it’s a full moon tonight.

In the distance, Muriel and Rhemi both see their friends all close to Asra’s ball of light, calling out for her. “Rhemi!! _Rheeeemmmmiiii!!!_ Where are you???” Rhemi keeps her light lit as well, and it bounces off of the dark rocks of the cliff side and they both wave to them quickly getting all of their attention. Portia is the first to see them and Rhemi can hear her shout, “There!! THERE!” And all three of them come rushing over, careful to not trip into the tide pools.

“—Oh thank goodness, Rhemi!!!!” Like a mother that lost their child, Asra barrels over and wraps his arms around her tightly, nearly knocking her over. He hugs her so tightly, he was worried sick. As he pulls away, his smile then falls and he shakes her slightly, scolding her. “Don’t you scare us like that!! Ingredients for the shop are not _that_ important!”

She wraps her arms around his waist apologetically. “I’m… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to worry all of you.” The Devoraks are both at a loss for words, they might have tired out their voices calling out for her.

As the two friends separate Asra at last notices where the two came out of. His gaze darted back from Rhemi to Muriel perplexed, shaking his head. “What the heck were you doing in here, Rem??” She huffs, wanting to explain herself, but then she starts to feel a wave of pain on her temples, a steady headache coming on. She winces a bit and pitches the bridge of her nose and Asra squeezes her shoulder comfortingly. “... Headache?”

Rhemi nods slowly. “I… I think I had enough of the beach today.” She confesses.

“Yeah. I think we all have.” Asra says with sigh and a wry smile letting go of her shoulder and grabbing Julian’s hand.

Rhemi’s arm loops through Muriel's, the group make their way back to the umbrellas and blanket and begin to pack up.

—————

As Rhemi and Muriel head back to the forest, both still in their swimsuits, they walk in silence much like they did the day before, but this time it’s awkwardness that makes it quiet, not melancholy. Both not knowing how to talk about what happened in the cave those many years ago. It was over ten years ago, yet the regret is still fresh in both of their minds.

Muriel finally clears his throat getting Rhemt’s attention and he starts to speak up. “... Asra doesn’t seem to remember, but, _ah_ ….. That was actually the first time we both met you.”

“Really?” She replies, relieved that he was the one who broke the silence.

Faint blush on his cute face, he continues. “... Some reason he thinks you met him at the masquerade a couple of years after that.”

Taken off guard, Rhemi thinks about that for a moment and shakes her head confused. “... Why didn’t you tell him?”

“He never asked.” Muriel says with a shrug. Rhemi suddenly stops dead in her tracks and so does he, once he notices. She gives him such a pointed look, but is unable to stop herself from grinning. That answer was just so him. _“What??”_ He flushes even more.

Rhemi picks up her feet and starts to walk away, shaking her head and giggling to herself. “ _Oh_ … Nothing… Just nothing. You’re just funny that's all.” Muriel follows her and she reaches out for his hand, and he takes it sweetly, stroking the top of her hand with his large thumb. “...What happened to you, Mur? How did you get so hurt?” She finally asks.

Muriel makes a thoughtfully sounding huff, trying to recall what happened all those years ago. “... Can’t remember if I was running after stealing some smoked eel and I cut myself from some old wood from the docks, or if it was from me climbing down the cliff side and I got cut on a sharp stone... Either one, some of Lucio’s goons were chasing after me.”

“ _Oh_ … did that happen often?”

“Yeah, it did. Lucio was looking for some nobodies to entertain him in the colosseum. He poached me for years.”

“I see….” She replies sadly.

Silence takes over again even as they both get to the hut, Inanna apparently gone hunting for the night. 

Getting changed into her nightshirt, and brushing her dry seawater hair as Muriel starts her a bath. He finally got himself a tub so they could bath privately instead of the cold river. Most of the time the thing lived outside, but when it was used, it came inside, taking up at least a third of the space. 

Muriel continues to fill it with hot water from the kettle and mix it with room temperature to make it perfect. Rhemi lets out a sad exhale before finally saying what’s on her mind as she sits on the floor next to the fire. “... You really weren’t kidding. I was a jerk to you.” She mumbles looking sadly into the dim fire.

Confused, Muriel holds the now empty bucket over the tub, his eyes darting back and forth. _“Huh?”_

“When we were young…. Now I know why you didn’t want to tell me about that. I was really mean back then.”

 _“Oh_ … That....” Now understanding what she meant, he comes over comfortingly and sits behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her into his lap. “Don’t worry about it, Rem. So was I. You were trying to help me and I was being an ass about it.”

“I was a stranger.”

“So was I. But you gave us food and didn’t tell anyone about us.”

She leans into his bare chest and softly closes her eyes. “....Is that why you don’t like the beach?”

“Partly… Asra and I had to sleep there a lot...”

“.... What a terrible first impression.” She mumbles rubbing her face embarrassed.

Muriel pushes her brownish red hair away from her neck and tenderly places a few feather light kisses on her shoulder and neck. “... Doesn’t matter anymore.”

A little warm chill runs up her spine from his sweet touch. “Why not?”

His hand cups her cheek and he gently turns her head so she meets his eyes again. “Cause. I care about you regardless of what happened then. Besides we were just dumb teenagers back then.... And I forgot about it for the longest time…”

“I guess so.” She leans in and presses her forehead against his and they sit there like that for a while, enjoying themselves in another company.

A thought crosses his mind, and a low rumbly chuckle radiates from his lungs as he pulls away. “ _Ha._ Guess I have saved by you more than once.”

“What do ya mean?”

“I was ill, and you saved me. I got better after that. I don’t…. I don’t think I would have lasted much longer without your help.”

 _“Oh_ … I guess I did… I am glad I helped you.” Rhemi kisses her Muriel on the cheek. “Do you think this means I’m going to get more memories like that?... Or maybe it's a one time thing?”

“Dunno.” Muriel shrugs, unsure. “.... Are you afraid?”

“I… I’m not really sure. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders, she leans back into him, pressing her lips to his, and he kisses her back. Right as she thinks he is going to pull away, he kisses her again, each one better than the last. Their tongues dance behind each other's lips, he caresses her back and waist with his large rough hands feeling her shape and she runs her fingers through his hair, leaving them both weak. Finally they part for air, and a devilishly cute smile twitch up on Rhemi’s mouth as her hands glide down her lover’s bare chest. “Welp. Guess we’re gonna need more water since we’re both gotta need to take a bath.” She says carefully getting out of his lap.

“We?” He asks with an eyebrow raised and a suspicious looking grin.

“We~” Giggling as she stands, Rhemi pulls her loose nightshirt off over her head, tossing it delicately to the floor. Exposing her bare naked body underneath. A sharp aroused exhale creeps out of Muriel’s mouth, breathing becomes shallower as he gawks at every inch of her. A large bulge forming in behind his trunks and his face becomes redder, but this time not from embarrassment. Sitting back down to her knees, she crawls back over to her hermit, such longing behind her gaze, salvia pooling behind her teeth. “I think we’re about to get a bit more messy~” She mutters sexily, untying the belt to his swim trunks thirsting for the taste of his rock hard member.

Pushing her hair out of face, he makes an adorable flustered expression. “Fi—Fine.” Then a loud gulp as soon as she pulls down his trunks and underwear. “... But _you're_ gonna make the hot water. _Mmmmm_ ~” He hisses.

She smiles mischievously then lovingly kisses his inner thighs, working her way over to his cock, enjoying every hot shutter he makes. _“Tee-hee~_ That’s fair.” She whispers, before sticking out her tongue, delicately holding his member with her small hands. She looks him in the eyes as she licks the bottom of his shaft up to the very tip and he groans. “Now hold still~”

##  _**The End~** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK!!! WE ARE DONE! YAY! So this story needed to be done because there are a few key things in here for the next arch. It was also on my mind during summer before Bae Watch came out. I’m weak for the beach episode cliché, alright!! 
> 
> I hope all you trash pandas enjoyed it, Im going to be working on the next arch, (the one that takes place after Journey back to the south, and is about Rhemi and Muriel's wedding) and hopefully you will soon get to read it!  
> As always, Thanks for reading my hot garbage! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Agrippa is a OC fan apprentice that belongs to @victorscribbles via tumblr & Instagram


End file.
